


Erin the Side of Caution

by KristenBealer



Category: Daria (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 20:39:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17946746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristenBealer/pseuds/KristenBealer
Summary: What if Erin did show up as planned instead of Rita in 'Aunt Nauseam'?  The answer is: quite a lot.  An alternate universe story that explores more than one often-ignored character.





	Erin the Side of Caution

Helen was pacing the living room impatiently, feeling angrier by the second. She was furious with her mother for guilting her into working on Erin's divorce. She was furious with Rita for backing out of helping in favor of a whirlwind trip to New York with her boyfriend. Most of all, she was furious with herself for once again getting dragged into the same family drama that she'd been trying to avoid since she was a child.

Jake came in from the kitchen carrying a glass pitcher. "Bring on the guest!" he said cheerfully. "One fresh pitcher of martinis ready to pour!"

She gave her husband a withering look. "Jake, Erin doesn't drink martinis."

Jake shrugged off the correction. "I know that. They're for me, just in case Rita calls."

Helen was saved from having to reply to that by the doorbell. "That must be Erin," she announced to no one in particular. She opened the door and found...Erin. As expected.

"Welcome, Erin!" Helen said, cramming every ounce of fake cheer she had into her voice. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"Thanks, Aunt Helen," Erin said glumly, shifting her grip on the suitcase she was holding.

Helen internally cringed, realizing that cheerfulness might not be welcome at the moment. "Oh, of course this must be a hard time for you," Helen said, gently taking Erin's suitcase and ushering her into the house. "Please come in and sit down. How was your trip?"

Erin shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Beats going to Switzerland."

"Um. What?" Quinn asked, and everyone stared at Erin with identical looks of confusion.

"Oh. It's just that Grandma wanted to send me on a trip to Gstaad to help me get over the whole...Brian thing," she said. "But then mom's boyfriend dumped her and Grandma decided that...I mean, I insisted that she go in my place."

"Ralph dumped Rita?" Helen asked, barely trying to hide her delight. "That's gr--er, that's awful."

"People usually frown rather than grin when they say that," Daria helpfully pointed out.

"It's fine," Erin assured them all. Under her breath she added, "She had it coming, anyway."

Unsure if she'd heard properly, Helen coughed and changed the subject. "Erin, would you like something to eat? To drink?"

"Martini?" Jake offered, holding out the pitcher.

Erin eyed the pitcher for a moment before saying, "Water would be fine, thanks."

Helen left to get the water and Daria and Quinn returned to their book and magazine, respectively. Erin sat down, looking uncomfortable with the whole situation. Jake stood awkwardly for a few moments before setting the pitcher down on the coffee table and sitting down as well.

"So...." he said, looking nervously at Erin. "How are you?" Seeing Erin's morose expression, he cringed. "Wait, I mean, aside from the divorce! That is, not that the divorce isn't important but...aw, dammit, I mean...dammit." He clenched his fists and glared at the floor. "I'm not making you feel very welcome, am I?"

While his daughters didn't even look up from their reading, Erin was stunned by the outburst. She reached over and briefly patted his arm. "It's okay," she said. "If it helps, I'd still rather be here than at home dealing with my mom or grandma."

Jake looked up at her with renewed interest. "Oh, wow! I know how _that_ feels!" Unseen by either Jake or Erin, Daria and Quinn exchanged a look over their reading material and both made a quick exit ahead of what was about to come. "Surrounded by apathetic or unpleasant people, holding in all your frustration until you're a mass of seething rage, wishing you could be anywhere else!" He paused mid-shout. "Except military school."

"Jake!" Helen scolded, coming in to hand Erin a glass of water.

Erin smiled for the first time since she'd arrived. "No, it's fine," she said. "He summed it up pretty well, actually. Minus the part about military school, that is."

Helen blinked at her, then shrugged. "I'm going to go gather my briefcase and a few other things we'll need," she said. "Please, make yourself at home." On her way out of the room she leaned down to mutter into Jake's ear, "Behave."

Jake sat in silence, occasionally opening his mouth to speak and then thinking better of it. At last Erin grew tired of the awkward silence and decided to break it herself. "So it sounds like you're no fonder of your folks than I am of mine. Want to tell me more?"

He stared at her in confusion. "You...mean it?" he asked. "No one ever asks me to talk about this. Normally it's all 'Jake, stop ranting about Mad Dog,' or 'Jake, no one wants to hear about military school,' or 'Jake, for the last time that skinned knee was forty years ago and you have to let it go!'" He leaned in. "You're not just teasing me, are you?"

Erin shook her head, now feeling curious. "Go ahead."

Jake's eyes lit up and he bounced slightly where he sat like a child on Christmas Day. "Gosh, I don't even know where to start!" He thought about it. "Okay, so it was my seventh birthday and the only thing I wanted was a View-Master. I didn't ask for anything else, just that. So on the big day there's this box that's just the right size waiting for me at the breakfast table and I knew--just _knew_ \--that my parents had come through for me. I rip away the paper, open up the box and find..."

Erin leaned forward.

"...a couple of empty beer cans!" Jake finished, punching the air in front of him for emphasis. "The old man got drunk the night before and wrapped some of his empties by mistake!" His brow creased in angry thought. "At least, I hope it was a mistake."

Snorting, Erin said, "At least your parents showed up. For _my_ seventh birthday, my mom left me with the nanny all weekend because she was jetting off to Florence with some random guy from the country club."

"Wow, that's really--" Jake stopped. "Florence? Like in Italy?"

Erin nodded, still scowling at the memory. "Yes. Have you ever been?"

Jake shook his head slowly. "Uh...no. Can't say I have." His cheeks turned pink, not from anger this time but embarrassment. "My parents weren't really the vacation type."

"My mother loves to take vacations," Erin told him. "She took them all the time instead of visiting me at boarding school."

Now Jake looked interested again. "She sent you away to school, too? Same here!"

Erin's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, really? Where did you go?"

"Buxton Ridge."

"Huh. I'm not familiar with that one. I went to St. Bertha's."

Jake looked dubious. "I don't suppose anyone ever made you eat your own dress socks there."

"...No. But I did have to share a room with a girl who snored. Does that count?"

"Sorry I took so long!" Helen called out as she came back into the living room. "I had a terrible time figuring out where I put the paperwork." She left out the five minutes she'd spent sitting on the bed and crushing her rising urge to commit sororicide.

"That's okay," Erin said, her voice dropping back into its flat tones at the reminder of why she was there. "Let's get this over with."

"First of all," Helen began, "you and Brian need to list all your assets..."

Jake watched the light go out of Erin's face and felt a tiny flicker of sympathy. He hadn't noticed it before, but she fidgeted with her hands when she was nervous in exactly the same way Quinn did. The straight line of her mouth as she pressed her lips together and tried to remain stoic was almost identical to Daria's. For the first time he could remember, he felt worse for someone else than he did for himself.

_I'm going to cheer that poor little girl up if it kills me._

  
  


While Helen and Erin went over paperwork in the next room, Daria and Quinn sat reading in the kitchen. They were both starting to relax when Helen's shout reverberated through the house.

"You signed a _pre-nup_ and didn't bother to tell anyone about it?!"

Erin was saved from Helen's wrath by the phone ringing. Quinn darted toward it out of habit but Helen beat her to it from the living room.

"Hello? Rita! You aren't going to _believe_ this...."

While Helen vented her fury on her sister, Erin scurried into the kitchen. Seeing Daria and Quinn, she sat down in an empty seat between them and sighed. "Is she always like this?"

"Only when forced to do _pro bono_ work against her will," Daria remarked, turning another page in her book.

"Dariaaaa!" Quinn said, seeing Erin's crestfallen face.

Daria looked up and noticed the tears in her cousin's eyes. "Oh. I didn't mean--"

"No, it's fine," Erin said, staring at the table. "I know Mom and Grandma bullied Aunt Helen into this. It's what they do." Dropping her volume, she added in a bitter undertone, "To everyone."

Daria and Quinn glanced at each other and silently came to a rare agreement. Quinn set down her magazine. "Hey, Erin? Did you want to maybe hang out with us for a little while? Mom's probably going to be on the phone for a while anyway."

"Forcing the boys of Lawndale to resort to smoke signals to get in touch with Quinn," Daria added. Quinn gave her an annoyed look but Erin smiled slightly at the joke.

"Yeah, Daria," Quinn shot back, "because normally they only have to compete with your many friends and admirers."

Daria raised an eyebrow. "Not bad," she admitted.

Erin looked from one to the other with amusement. "Do you guys pick on each other a lot, then?"

"That's one way to describe it," Daria replied with a small smirk.

"You're so lucky," Erin sighed. "I wish I had a sister."

"Want mine?" Daria and Quinn said together, then looked at each other in surprise.

"See?" Erin moaned. "You're so in sync! I bet you have each other's backs and stand up for each other all the time! I wish I weren't an only child."

"Ummm...." Quinn started to say, then shook her head. "Never mind. Listen, Erin, I've got a Fashion Club meeting tonight. We're heading over to Junior Five to return some dresses. Want to come along?"

From the living room they could hear Helen shout, "Oh, I'm _soooo_ sorry to interrupt your all-expenses-paid vacation in Switzerland with these petty details about _your_ daughter's divorce case, Rita!"

Erin nodded vigorously. "I'd love to. Daria?" She turned to look at her other cousin. "Want to join us for some fashion and shopping?"

Daria let out a sound that was a mix between a snort and a laugh. "No, you go ahead. I'll sit out the fun just this once."

  
  


"Hey guys," Quinn greeted the rest of the Fashion Club outside of Junior Five. "This is my cousin, Erin."

Sandi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Real cousin or fake cousin?" she asked sardonically.

Quinn forced out a chuckle. "Oh, Sandi. That joke _never_ gets old."

"Huh?" Erin asked.

"Long story, don't ask," Quinn quickly replied. "On to club business!"

The girls walked into the store, where Sandi brought two identical dresses over to the clerk. "I'm sorry, Theresa," she said, "but we must return these dresses. Here are the receipts."

Theresa looked at the receipts and her face fell. "Oh no," she muttered. Looking up, she said, "Um, guys, you bought these dresses over two weeks ago. It's too late to return them."

Sandi looked scandalized at the reply. "Surely those silly rules don't apply to your most valued customers."

Theresa started to apologize, but Erin broke in here. "Might we speak to the manager on duty?" she requested politely.

"Uh, sure," Theresa said, looking grateful for the excuse to go. She scurried toward the back of the store and, a couple minutes later, a middle-aged woman with a frazzled expression came out.

"May I help you?" the woman asked.

Erin glanced at the woman's nametag. "Good evening, Denise. These young ladies would like to return two dresses." She handed Denise the receipts and, as the other woman looked at them and frowned, continued. "I realize that the deadline has passed, but I'd like to think we could come to some kind of compromise." She turned to Sandi. "How much do the four of you spend here in an average month?"

Sandi told her.

Erin stared at her. "Really?"

Sandi nodded. "At least."

"Huh." She shook off her surprise and turned to the manager. "Given that these are very loyal customers that are--let's not mince words--quite lucrative to this store, I would think it reasonable to request a return in exchange for at least partial store credit." She tilted her head and gave Denise a charming smile. "Don't you?"

Denise looked at the receipts, then at the girls standing in front of her. A few calculations passed through her mind and her expression relaxed into a welcoming smile. "Of course we can arrange that," she agreed. "Come right over here and I'll handle it personally."

"Wow, Quinn," Stacy gushed as they followed Denise to the counter. "Your cousin is soooo cool!"

Quinn looked at her cousin with new admiration. "Yeah, I guess she is."

  
  


"...but _Daria_ , I think if you spent some more time with her--"

"She's already living here, Quinn. I'm not sure it's possible to spend more time with her without surgically attaching myself to her."

"You don't understand. She's really smart, like you!"

Daria, stretched out on her bed, looked at her sister with mild disgust. "Being able to negotiate a department store return does not qualify her for a Rhodes Scholarship."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm just saying that she's having a tough time right now and I think it would be really nice if we could support her with some sister/cousin bonding time."

"Mmmm." Daria's tone was noncommittal, but her expression wavered slightly. She glanced toward her open bedroom door, where they could faintly hear the sound of Helen and Erin discussing settlements and petitions downstairs. Even from a distance, the misery in Erin's voice was unmistakable. She looked at her sister and sighed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking about watching _Gone with the Wind_ later. It's on tonight, and I just love that movie. It's soooo romantic."

"Yes, there's nothing more romantic than watching the brutal disintegration of one of the most dysfunctional relationships in literature," Daria remarked. She thought about that for a second. "Do you really think watching something like that is going to make Erin feel _better_ about her divorce?"

Quinn looked torn. "Um...but...the dresses are so pretty!" she finally said pleadingly.

Daria rolled her eyes but swung her legs off the bed to stand up. "Whatever. Let's go see if we can traumatize our cousin completely."

When they came downstairs, they found their mother on her cell phone with someone from her law firm, speaking almost exclusively in legal jargon about divorce procedures. Jake was watching a basketball game on mute and trying to muffle his cheers whenever his team scored. Erin, chin resting on her palm, looked like she was barely staying stay awake.

"Erin?" Quinn asked eagerly. Helen glared at her and held a finger to her lips to warn her to speak quietly. Almost in a whisper, Quinn continued, "We were wondering if you'd like to--"

The house phone rang, cutting her off. Forgetting what she was about to say, Quinn sprang to answer it. "Hello? ... Who? ... Let's see, hmm, I know a Ryan and a Byron, but 'Brian' doesn't ring a bell. If you're calling to ask me out I must warn you there's currently a waiting list--"

"Brian?" Erin asked, now fully awake. She stood and reached out her hand.

Quinn gasped. "Oh, _that_ Brian!" She held out the phone, which Erin eagerly snatched from her.

"Brian?" she murmured into the phone. Daria and Quinn watched her warily. Jake looked up from his game. Helen, still engrossed in her phone call, didn't notice.

Erin listened silently for a minute or two. Then she said, "You mean it? You want to try again?" A weak smile spread across her face, but she didn't see that the three people watching her were slowly beginning to frown. She clutched the phone with both hands. "Oh, totally, I know. The fight was all my fault and I'm so sorry about everything. Yes, you're right--I shouldn't have nagged you so much about wanting time with the guys."

Now Jake turned off the TV. Daria and Quinn exchanged a look.

"I just thought that maybe, just like once a week or even less if that's okay, we could have a date night or whatever...Oh! No, I wasn't trying to nag you again. I would never--okay, well that's fine, as long as you're really ready to start over. I'm just so--"

Quinn grabbed the phone from Erin and spoke into it. "Brian? Listen, Erin's actually really busy right now and she's going to have to call you back later. No, I'm not going to put her back on. Because I don't feel like it. Byeeee!" She hit the "off" button on the phone with an emphatic jab.

Erin stared at her, mouth open in shock. "How could you do that?" she demanded once she was able to speak. "We were just about to get back together! Give me the phone; I have to call him back right now!"

She lunged at the phone but Quinn took a step back. "Erin?" she said, sounding nervous. "I think you need to take a few minutes to think about this."

Erin stomped her foot in frustration. "I've spent the past several days thinking about nothing _else_!" she cried. "I've been miserable, and just when I thought I was going to get my happy life back--"

"Is 'happy' the word you want to use?" Daria asked bluntly.

Quinn hurriedly cut in, "What Daria is _trying_ to say is that we're not sure Brian's treating you very well. I mean, if a guy I was dating treated me like that--"

"We're not dating; we're married," Erin coldly said, sitting back down. "It's a very different situation. Right, Uncle Jake?" she added, turning to Jake with a hopeful expression.

Jake stared at the floor, uncomfortable being put on the spot in such a serious conversation. "It's, well," he stalled. "Marriage is complicated, yes, but...."

"Uncle Jake?" Erin persisted. "Tell them!"

"He's a jerk, Erin," Jake said, finally looking at his niece. "I'm sorry, but he is. I've known plenty of jerks in my life and he's among the worst."

Tears began to fill Erin's eyes, but she swiped them away angrily. "So you're all against me, is that it?" she demanded. "You pretended to be so nice to me but now that I really need your support everyone just gangs up on me?"

Jake stood up and came over to crouch in front of Erin where she sat. "Listen, if you want to take Brian back then that's your decision to make." Daria and Quinn both started to speak but he glanced at them and gave his head a firm shake to stop them. "If you want to stay with him, we'll support you. If you want to go through with the divorce, we'll support you. Okay?"

Erin looked at him for a long time. The only sound in the room was Helen's cell phone conversation. At last Erin looked like she'd come to a decision, and at that moment the phone in Quinn's hand rang.

"It might be someone else," Quinn said, eying the phone.

"It's him," Erin said without any doubt. "May I?" Quinn reluctantly handed over the phone, which Erin answered. "Hello? Yes, Brian, it's me. I know, but--yes, I understand that you--it's just that...." With each word she said, or at least tried to say, Erin sank further into the couch. Her eyes stared into the middle distance in front of her and her shoulders looked tenser and tenser with each passing moment. "Brian, if you would just--that's not what-- _ENOUGH!_ "

Everyone jumped in surprise at Erin's sudden shriek. Even Helen looked at her, although for her the distraction was temporary and she turned her attention back to her phone call within seconds.

Erin continued in a quieter, yet still firm, voice. "I am not going to tolerate any more interruptions from you. In fact, I'm not going to tolerate _anything_ from you ever again. Do you understand me? It's over. I'm going through with the divorce and once it's finalized I don't ever want to see you or speak to you for the rest of my life." She ended the call and stared at the phone. She was breathing heavily and her hands were shaking.

Quinn leaned in and gave Erin a hug. "Good for you!" she said.

Erin dropped the phone and burst into tears.

"Oh, no," Jake muttered, feeling even more uncomfortable than before. He tentatively reached out and patted Erin on the shoulder. "Um...there, there?"

Letting out a tortured sob, Erin managed to gasp out, "I'm okay, I'm just...." before dissolving back into tears.

Helen lowered her cell phone. "What's going on?" she whispered.

Quinn grinned at her. "Great news! Erin's getting divorced from Brian!"

Helen stared at them all incredulously and then shook her head before returning to her phone conversation.

Daria fidgeted awkwardly, trying to think of something useful to say and coming up blank. The doorbell rang. "Thank God," she muttered, rising to answer it.

"Hey, how's it going?" Tom asked when she opened the door.

A miserable wail from behind Daria was his answer. "You don't want to know," she told him. "Listen, this isn't really a good--"

"Daria? Who's this?" Erin, sniffling and dabbing her eyes with a tissue, approached the door.

Daria turned to see that her cousin was recovering her composure surprisingly fast. "Um...Tom, this is my cousin Erin. Erin, this is my, uh...." She tried to say the word but her mouth wouldn't cooperate. She could feel the warmth of a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"I'm Tom," he said, rescuing Daria from her crisis and holding out his hand.

Erin shook his hand with a slight sniffle. "I'm sorry about my outburst." Glancing over at Helen, who was still engrossed in her legal discussion she stepped outside to join Tom on the front step. Daria followed them reluctantly. "I'm not usually this emotional," Erin added as she shut the door behind them. "At home I'm supposed to keep this kind of thing to myself. I can't imagine what Grandma would say."

"Probably 'have some more cash,'" Daria muttered.

Speaking quickly to keep Erin from noticing the pointed remark, Tom replied, "I know what you mean. I grew up in a repressed household, too. We always just pretended problems didn't exist."

"Yes!" Erin agreed, nodding. "It gets difficult when odors are involved!"

Both Erin and Tom chuckled at the joke. Daria frowned. "Well, Erin has a divorce to get back to, so...."

Erin looked startled at her cousin's bluntness, but agreed. "I should see if Aunt Helen is done with her phone call. It was nice meeting you, Tom."

"And you," Tom added, smiling. After Erin had gone back into the house, his smile faded and he looked at Daria with concern. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

Daria crossed her arms. "I'm sorry I ruined your one-on-one time with my cousin."

Tom's mouth dropped open. "Are you...jealous?"

"No," Daria replied much too quickly.

Tom took Daria's hand in his. "I'm dating you," he said. "I'm happy with you. I was just being friendly."

"Next you'll be talking about Machiavelli and asking her to get into your car 'to talk.'"

"Seriously?!" Tom dropped Daria's hand and took a step back.

Daria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Look, it's been a rough day. Let's pick this argument up later, okay?"

T

om looked like he wanted to say more, but finally nodded. "Fine. Later." He turned on his heel and went back to his car, where he drove off without a glance back.

Daria stood at the door, watching him go. She knew she hadn't handled that very well, and honestly wasn't even sure exactly what "that" even was. Shaking it off, she went back inside to find Helen finally done on the phone and putting some papers into her briefcase. "I'm going to have to run these over to the office. It shouldn't take long; I'll be back in an hour or so."

"In other words, see you next week," Daria muttered on her way upstairs.

Erin looked relieved at the break. "I think I'll go take a walk," she said. "Clear my head. Anyone want to come along?"

Daria's response was the slamming of her bedroom door. Jake was engrossed in his basketball game once more. Quinn looked interested, but then the phone rang. Erin looked nervously at it, so Quinn answered. "Hello? Oh, hiiii Jeffy." She waved for Erin to go ahead without her, then turned her focus back to the phone.

Erin headed outside, feeling drained of energy yet strangely light and calm. She walked without any destination, being unfamiliar with Lawndale. It was a pleasant evening--the sun was warm but not too hot, a light breeze ruffled her hair, and she could hear birds singing in the trees as she passed. The combination of fresh air and aimless wandering soon pushed out the stress she'd been holding in ever since she'd arrived. Around half an hour later she wandered by a coffee shop and decided to try it.

She sat down at a table with a steaming mug of tea and savored the freedom she was finally letting herself feel. She closed her eyes, held the mug up to her face, and inhaled the aroma with a slight smile. When she opened her eyes, a blond man around her age was standing at her table holding a mug.

"Excuse me," the man said, sounding deeply apologetic for some reason. "May I sit here?" He nodded toward the rest of the room. "There aren't any open tables, and I'm very sorry to bother you but I promise I won't be any trouble but if you'd rather I not that I completely understand--"

Erin gently kicked the chair opposite her toward the man. "Feel free," she said, interrupting him before he could run out of oxygen and pass out.

The man gave her a relieved grin and sat down. "Thanks. I'm sorry about all the apologizing--I tend to overdo that, especially with women. If you knew about my relationship history you'd understand why."

A shadow passed over Erin's good mood at the mention of relationships. "I bet your love life is infinitely better than mine," she said, regretting her too-candid words half a second too late.

"You'd lose that bet," the man replied simply. The look on his face was almost infuriatingly arrogant.

Erin found herself feeling defensive at his nonchalance. "You're talking to a woman who's in the middle of a nasty divorce," she told him defiantly.

He counted on his fingers. "Two divorces. One annulment. One currently estranged wife. Multiple alimony payments. Dumped too many times to remember the exact number."

Erin rose to the challenge. "Got engaged to my very first serious boyfriend after only three dates. Married him because the bastard gave me herpes and never even had the decency to apologize for it. Got pressured into signing an outrageous pre-nup that I was too stupid to realize made it obvious he was after my money." She crossed her arms and leaned back. "Your move."

The man looked at her in amazement. Then, to her surprise, he reached across the table to shake her hand. "My name's Wind Lane. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um, likewise?" Erin replied, shaking his hand in bemusement. "I'm Erin Danielson, soon to be Erin Chambers again."

"So do you live in Lawndale?" Wind asked her, casually taking a sip of his coffee as though the heated exchange from a minute ago hadn't happened.

Erin shook her head. "I'm here visiting my aunt and her family while she helps me finalize the divorce. You?"

"I grew up here, but I'm just visiting my family while Katie--that's my current wife--has her alone time." He bit his lower lip, thinking about it. "That was a couple weeks ago. I suppose I may have given her a little too much time." He shrugged. "At least now she can't say I've been smothering her anymore."

"Brian sure loved his alone time, too," Erin said. "Although looking back, I strongly suspect he was actually sharing that time with someone else." She groaned. "I really know how to pick them, don't I?"

"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself," Wind told her, sounding almost as upset as she did. "We all make mistakes. It's how we learn, right?" Then he sighed. "Never mind; if that were true I'd be the wisest man on the planet."

Erin laughed in spite of herself. "Are you saying I need more practice?" she asked, realizing too late that she sounded like she was flirting. _Red alert! Hit the brakes! Full speed reverse!_ "Because I think I'd rather just retire now, with my bad record intact."

Wind chuckled. "If only I were that smart." He nodded toward Erin's now-empty tea mug. "Can I get you a refill?"

Erin noticed that he'd finished his coffee. "No, I'll get us both another round."

"Oh, I'd be happy to."

"I insist," Erin said, standing up.

"All right," Wind agreed. "But only if you let me get the next one."

"Oh, I don't think I'll have a third one, but thank you anyway," Erin said.

"I don't mean today," Wind said with a shy smile. "I meant next time. Maybe this Saturday?"

Erin's common sense rebelled instantly against accepting a date so soon after her marriage had ended, but her battered ego and gnawing sense of loneliness overruled it. She ignored the nagging feeling at the back of her mind that she was overlooking something important and replied, "That...that would be nice." As she went back to the counter, both of them thought, _I'd forgotten how nice it was to be treated like a real person._

  
  


"...That's about all we can do for now, until we hear back from Brian's lawyer. From what I can tell, though, we shouldn't have too much trouble from this point onward." Helen grabbed Erin's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Congratulations; I think the nightmare is just about over." Under her breath she added, "For both of us."

"I can't thank you enough," Erin said, grabbing her aunt in an unexpected hug. "You've just been so helpful. Not just with the divorce but with...well, everything!"

"Not at all," Helen assured her. "You're family, and family looks out for each other! That said, if you run into any more complications with the divorce _please_ call this junior associate, okay?" She pushed a business card into Erin's hands.

"I promise," Erin said. "Now, there's just one more favor I would like to ask of you."

"And that is...?" Helen asked warily.

Erin twisted her hands together, staring at the ground like a child caught next to a broken vase. "Could I possibly stay here for just a little while longer?"

"Here? As in here in this house?" Helen asked, startled.

"Of course you can!" Jake replied, overcompensating for Helen's lack of enthusiasm. "Stay as long as you like!"

"Totally!" Quinn agreed. "I still haven't shown you around the Mall of the Millennium. We'll have all kinds of fun! We'd _love_ it if you stayed longer." Daria raised an eyebrow and started to speak, but Quinn elbowed her in the side. "Go with it and I'll do your chores for a week," she hissed. Daria closed her mouth again, although the smirk remained.

Helen looked doubtful. "I don't know...."

This time Daria did speak. "You have a point, Mom," she said. "I mean, think how upset Rita would be if she found out Erin chose you over her."

That was all Helen needed to hear. "Welcome home, Erin."

  
  


"You know, you aren't the only one with an unexpected houseguest," Jane told Daria while they were watching _Sick, Sad World_ in Daria's room a few days later. "Wind moved back into his old bedroom."

"I'm not sure your brother counts as a houseguest," Daria pointed out.

"He does when we normally only see him when he's between marriages. I would have thought seeing the 'naming' gazebo get destroyed a second time would scare him off but he's still hanging around like a bad cough."

"Maybe he's made of tougher stuff than you thought," Daria said. After a brief pause, both girls snickered.

"Luckily, between his new job and his constant mysterious outings he hasn't actually been spending that much time at home," Jane said. "He usually only shows up to sleep and eat, which I think makes him less of a sibling and more of a pet."

"Think you could drive him out of town and release him into the wild?"

"The wild would just bring him back after five minutes."

A knock sounded on Daria's door, which then opened to reveal Helen. "Daria, we're having a guest for dinner tonight. Erin's bringing a friend to meet us." She looked at Jane. "Jane, you're welcome to stay as well."

"Free food?" Jane asked. "I'm in."

Daria looked at her mother with mild concern. "It's not Brian, is it?"

Helen shook her head. "She hasn't told me much, but I doubt it. She sounded too, well..."

"Happy?" Daria suggested.

Helen smiled. "Precisely."

  
  


Everyone was gathering in the dining room except for Erin's mystery guest. Erin was bobbing around, nervous but excited, as she tried to help set the table but mostly just got in the way. Daria, Jane, and Quinn sat down at the table and waited.

The doorbell rang, and Erin almost dropped a plate in her eagerness to go answer it. Everyone else stayed in the dining room, fixing polite, friendly, or (in Daria's case) not-too-hostile expressions on their faces.

Moments later, Erin came back into the dining room dragging a guest behind her. "Everyone, I want you to meet my new boyfriend--"

"--Wind?!" Jane said in surprise.

"Hi, Jane," Wind said, also surprised but smiling goofily at Erin.

"Oh, do you already know each other?" Erin asked, looking back and forth between them.

"She's my sister," Wind explained. To Jane he said, "What are you doing here?"

"She's my friend," Daria said bluntly. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Daria, don't be rude," Helen scolded.

"Wow, what a small world!" Erin giggled. "Hey, if we got married then you and Jane would be, um...." She paused, trying to work through the hypothetical family tree.

"Mortified," Jane filled in.

" _Anyway_ ," Helen interrupted, trying to salvage some decorum. "Let's all sit down and have dinner. Jake, would you please bring the food in?" She paused, realizing something. "Oh, God. You didn't make Kitchen Sink Stew, did you?"

Jake shook his head proudly. "Nope! For this special occasion, I planned prime rib!"

Helen looked relieved. "What a nice surprise. Where is it?"

The doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" Wind asked.

"That must be the prime rib!" Jake announced. "Helen, would you serve the baked potatoes while I bring it in?" He hurried to the front door.

"You haven't even _cooked_ it yet?" Helen called after him.

"It'll be ready in a jiffy," Jake assured her, returning with a large crate. "Courtesy of Basement Bob's Bulk-Rate Steak and Sausage dot com and their fantastic near-wholesale prime rib!"

Quinn looked disgusted. "We're eating bulk-rate? If the Fashion Club finds out...."

"Don't worry," Daria said. "I swept for bugs earlier. They'll never find out."

"But any one of us could be a spy," Jane pointed out. "Personally, I'd sell her out in exchange for pizza money."

Jake scowled. "Dammit! We've got five mouths to feed! Do you have any idea how expensive food is these days?"

"Hence the pizza money," Jane replied.

"Don't worry, Daddy," Quinn said soothingly. "Erin's only here temporarily and soon Daria will be going away to college, so then you'll save lots of money!"

Daria snorted. "Yes, because college tuition is so affordable compared with a grocery bill."

Jake's eyes widened as he struggled to open the crate. "Tuition? Oh, God...."

Quinn looked distressed for a moment, then brightened again. "Hey, Daria, you could get one of those scholarship thingies!"

"One of what?" Erin asked, bewildered.

Helen explained, "A scholarship is financial aid given by a college to help students pay for their education."

"Why would they do that?" Erin asked.

"Because college is expensive, Erin," Daria grumbled.

"Oh," Erin said, and then the penny finally dropped. "Ohhhh!" Then she lowered her head in embarrassment. "Sorry. I, uh, didn't go to college."

"Shocking," Jane muttered.

"And if you had, I'm sure Mother would have picked up the tab," Helen said caustically. She caught herself and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, that's an excellent idea, Quinn!"

Jake finally got the crate open and reached inside. "Prepare for a delicious gourmet dinner of...." He pulled his hands back out and stared at the contents in confusion. "...hot dogs?"

Jane leaned in to take a closer look. "Hot dogs," she confirmed.

"Mmmm, hot dogs," Wind said, cheerfully oblivious to Jake's shock.

Erin only frowned. "What on Earth is a 'hot dog'?"

  
  


Later that night, Jake was alone in the kitchen staring glumly at his crate full of hot dogs. He squinted at the packing slip and then at the hot dogs again, letting out a sigh. Erin and Wind came in, chatting, but stopped talking when they saw him.

"Are you okay, Uncle Jake?" Erin asked.

"No, I'm not okay!" Jake burst out. "I filled out the stupid order form wrong and so I can't return the stupid hot dogs to the stupid company and everything is just _stupid_!"

"Why would you want to return them?" Erin asked, startling him out of his rant.

"Are you serious?" Jake stared at her as though afraid she was making fun of him. "What am I supposed to do with thirty pounds of hot dogs?"

"Eat them." Erin smiled. "Duh."

"Thirty pounds?" Jake asked weakly, staring at the crate and putting a hand on his already-queasy stomach at the thought.

"Of course!" Erin said cheerfully. "They're delicious!"

Jake and Wind looked at each other in mild amusement, then at Erin again. "You...liked them?" Wind asked.

Erin nodded enthusiastically. "I can't believe I'd never tried one before! They're absolutely fantastic!" She leaned over and looked at the counter. "Ooooh, are there leftovers?" She grabbed a hot dog and took a bite. "Mmmm."

Jake's mood finally lightened. "Well...good! I'm glad someone likes them." He grimaced. "You'll probably be eating a lot of them."

"Good!" Erin took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Hey, crazy idea: do you suppose these would taste good with chili on them?"

"You might be onto something," Jake said, hiding a smile. He looked at Wind. "So how'd you two meet, anyway? Erin's barely told us anything about you so far."

"She hasn't?" Wind's face fell. He looked at Erin, hurt. "Are you ashamed of me?"

"No 'ay!" Erin exclaimed through a mouthful of hot dog. She swallowed. "I haven't talked about you much because I haven't been here much." She glided over at stand in front of Wind, leaning in until their noses almost touched. "I've been spending all my time with _you_." Wind looked mollified, and took her hand in his.

Jake leaned against the counter, too oblivious to feel like a third wheel. "So tell me now," he said. "What do you guys have in common? What do you argue about? I want to hear about everything!"

Erin blushed slightly and murmured, "Um...maybe not _everything_."

"We don't argue about anything," Wind told him, grinning goofily at Erin. "And we have _so much_ in common!"

"Such as...?" Jake prompted.

Erin tilted her head, thinking. "Well, we both like, uh...coffee shops?"

Jake laughed. "I bet you guys order the same coffee, right?"

"Er, no," Erin admitted. "I actually don't like coffee, but I do like herbal tea."

"Tea? Ew." Wind wrinkled his nose. "Okay, yeah, there are a few little things we differ on, but we're on the same page with everything else!"

This time Jake just waited, smiling expectantly.

Erin offered, "We both love animals!"

"Um, what?" Wind asked. "We do?"

Erin frowned at him. "You told me the other day your family has two cats, right?"

"Right, but I don't really care for pets. They're so _needy_."

"Oh." Erin thought again. "What about movies? We both like movies, right?"

Wind nodded eagerly. "Definitely! As long as they aren't too scary."

Erin pouted slightly. "I love scary movies."

"Never mind," Wind quickly said. "Um...let's see...."

Now Erin was starting to feel desperate. "How about we both say our favorite colors at the same time? One...two...three!"

Wind said "Blue!" while Erin said "Orange!"

Now Wind was getting upset, too. "Orange?" he asked incredulously. "No one likes orange!"

"I do," Erin snapped, defensive.

Jake gulped. "I'm going to turn in early. You both help yourselves to the leftover hot dogs. G'night!" He made a hasty exit before either of them could drag him into the fight.

Wind and Erin glared at each other. "What were you even doing in a coffee shop if you don't like coffee?" Wind asked. "Is _everything_ you do a lie?"

"Excuse me?!" Erin crossed her arms haughtily. "Coffee shops serve more than tea, you know. And what's your problem with scary movies? Didn't anyone ever teach you that movies aren't real? It's okay to be scared!"

"I know," Wind snapped. "I'm scared of you and your massive dishonesty right now!"

Erin clenched her fists and took half a step backward. "How dare you?"

Wind let out a plaintive wail. "Our relationship is built on treachery!"

"Stop that." Erin looked away and crossed her arms. "You know what? Just leave. I don't ever want to see you again!"

"You're not being--"

"I. Said. _Now_."

Wind's mouth trembled like he was either trying to say something or about to burst into tears. Finally he just shook his head, turned around, and marched out of the house, slamming the door behind him. The sound reverberated through the house, even startling Jane and Daria upstairs.

"Sounds like Wind's latest relationship is off to the same great start as the others," Jane remarked, eyes not leaving the TV.

Daria was sitting at her computer, looking at scholarship options. "At least they figured it out before they got married," she said. "I'm not sure Mom could handle the stress of another divorce so soon after the last one."

Jane looked over at her. "How's the search going?"

"Worse than Erin and Wind's love life," Daria complained. "These scholarship foundations all want you to be an expert in something: concert violinist, nationally-ranked gymnast, published author."

"Don't any of them appreciate applicants who got the high score on Cannibal Fragfrest?" Jane asked. She clucked her tongue in mock disdain. "Barbarians."

"How about one for you?" Daria asked. "'Have you ever had anything shown in a museum?' Regional's okay."

Jane snorted. "Hell no. Why would I want to fill out a five thousand page application and kiss the butts of some review board in exchange for a few thousand bucks so I can go to a school I'll probably hate anyway?" She winced, and glanced over at Daria. "Um--"

"Forget it," Daria said, turning her computer chair around and pulling her glasses up to rub her eyes. "I don't even _want_ to do this."

"Then why are you?" Jane asked, a hint of bitterness tinging her voice.

"Mom." Daria slumped in her seat. "She's been extra pushy since Erin got here. I think she's trying to show off in front of her, not realizing that Erin couldn't possibly care less about scholarship competitions." She let out a sharp, angry laugh. "I bet that's something else she and Tom have in common."

"Tom?" Jane blinked at the abrupt change in subject. "What's he got to do with this, she asked reluctantly?"

Daria groaned. "They met the other day and hit it off immediately."

"Did they bond over Machiavelli and Fellini film festivals?"

"Not funny. Now I'm afraid to let them both be in the same room together."

"Seriously?" Jane asked in surprise. "You think Tom and Erin...?"

"No," Daria said. "It's not that. It's just...annoying. It's like they're one big rich-people inside joke that I'm left out of."

"Daria, you do know that your family is not exactly poverty-stricken, right?" Jane asked, slightly annoyed.

"But Erin and Tom--"

"--are upper class while your family is upper-middle class," Jane finished. "Knock it off. You realize that you keep using this whole money thing as an excuse to push Tom away, right?"

Daria glared at her. "Thanks for your support."

"You want me to lie?" Jane threw her hands in the air. "Look, it's awkward enough that you're dating my ex. You think I _want_ to keep counseling you through every minor roadblock in your relationship? God, sometimes you act just like Wind."

"Is that why Erin dumped him?" Daria asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Who says _she_ dumped _him_?" Jane asked. "Maybe he got tired of listening to the shallow airhead."

"You want to talk about shallow airheads?" Daria said with a snort. "Which one can't even hold onto a relationship for more than twenty-four hours?"

Jane held up a hand. "Hold on. Are we really arguing about whether my brother or your cousin is better?"

Daria was surprised into silence at the thought. "No, this argument is about us, and it just took a weird left turn."

"That's what I thought." Jane stood up. "Look, I'm going to head home. We'll talk about this later. Maybe." She walked out without letting Daria reply. A short time later, the front door slammed for the second time that night.

After a few minutes, Erin showed up in Daria's doorway. "Can I come in?" she asked.

Daria rolled her eyes. "If you're looking for relationship counseling, Quinn's room is down the hall. I'm not qualified." She added under her breath, "At all."

Erin's mouth twisted into a sad smile. "Actually, I came to help you." Seeing the look on Daria's face, she quickly added, "If you want."

"And if I don't?" Daria snapped.

Erin almost fled at her tone, but finally stood her ground. "I saw Jane's face when she stormed out," she explained. "Looks like I'm not the only one who got into a fight with a Lane tonight."

"Please don't compare my friendship with Jane to your fling with Wind." Daria knew she was being harsh, but it had been a difficult evening and she just wanted the conversation to end.

"I'm not," Erin replied stubbornly. "I just thought you might want someone to talk to." She shrugged. "You all have been so helpful and supportive, and I want to try to repay you by being there for you if you need me."

Daria resisted the urge to smother herself with her pillow. "Fine," she groaned at last. "Let's get this over with." She gestured toward the bed, reluctantly inviting her cousin to sit.

Erin perched nervously on the very edge of the bed, taking in the padded walls and bars on the windows for the first time. "Um, your room is...."

"Not open for discussion," Daria finished bluntly.

"Okay, never mind. So, what happened between you and Jane?"

Daria looked at her cousin, and although everything in her stubborn teenage heart rebelled at the idea of confiding in anyone, she could see that Erin genuinely wanted to help. _Oh, what the hell._ "Jane and I had a stupid argument over nothing, and I don't even know why we're mad at each other."

"Oh, wow!" Erin said with a gasp. "That sounds almost exactly like the fight Wind and I just had!"

"Is that supposed to cheer me up?" Daria grumbled.

"Er, no...I just thought it was...interesting."

Daria rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it's frustrating because Jane is literally my only friend. My best friend. I don't like the idea of losing her." So quietly only she could hear she added, "Again."

"I get it," Erin said simply. "Wind is one of the few good things that's happened to me since the divorce, and the thought of our relationship falling apart so suddenly is just awful."

Daria stared at her cousin with narrowed eyes. "Thanks for making my problem about you."

Erin moaned and covered her face with her hands. "I'm not trying to do that, I promise! It's just...." She mentally groped around to find the right words, which seemed to be in even shorter supply in her brain than usual. "I just want you to know that I understand what you're going through right now!"

Daria shook her head disdainfully. "Look, Jane and I have a lot of history with each other and there's a lot you don't know about what we've been through. You, on the other hand, had a minor argument with your new boyfriend and discovered that the honeymoon period is over."

Erin's face turned pink, and for a moment Daria thought she'd gone too far and angered her. "You're right," Erin said sheepishly, and Daria realized that her cousin was embarrassed. "We had a silly little fight about nothing and I should probably be talking to him, not you."

" _Thank_ you," Daria said, pointing at the door.

"No, thank you," Erin replied sincerely. "You really put this into perspective for me. I just wish I could have helped you."

Daria felt her annoyance soften. "You did, a little," she admitted. "You were a great target to vent at."

Erin gave her cousin a brief smile and headed straight for the phone, where she dialed the Lane house. Wind answered it, sounding slightly out of breath. She checked her watch and realized that he'd probably only just walked in the door. "Hi, it's me," she said. "Erin," she added, just in case.

"Oh." Wind just let the word hang there, waiting for Erin to say something else.

Calling Wind had sounded great in theory, but now Erin just felt awkward. "Um...did you get home okay?"

"Fine." Wind cleared his throat. "So I thought you never wanted to see me again?" The sarcasm was thick, and hit her hard.

"I--um...I'm sorry." The words almost caught in her throat, but once she said them she felt herself breathing freely for the first time since their argument.

Wind was silent for a few seconds, which felt like much longer. Finally he spoke again. "Really?"

She couldn't quite read his tone. Was he still being sarcastic? "Yes," she said simply. "I am."

"It's just that...I'm not used to other people apologizing to me. It's, uh, weird." Then, as though the thought had just occurred to him, he said, "I'm sorry, too. Sorrier."

"No, I'm the one who overreacted and kicked you out."

"But I flew off the handle about you not liking coffee. It was my fault."

"Yes, but I shouldn't have picked on you about not liking horror movies."

"And I shouldn't have picked on _you_ about the color orange."

Erin couldn't help giggling a little. "Are we arguing about who started the argument?"

Wind laughed, too. "Apparently. Listen, we're both sorry, right?"

"Right."

"And you _do_ want to see me again?"

"Of course!" Erin held onto the phone with both hands, grinning like a child. "Tomorrow. The day after that. Every day, forever!"

"Me too!" Wind said, and she could hear the excitement in his voice, too. "What are you doing tomorr--" His voice was drowned out by the sound of a door slamming. "Oh, Jane's home," he said.

Erin winced, thinking about Daria and how badly she'd failed at helping her. "Yes, I'd give her some space right now. She's probably a little bit upset." Then she gasped. "No, scratch that. I just got the _best_ idea!"

  
  


Jane was on her way to the fridge to rummage around for something to eat--not because she was particularly hungry after the hot dog feast, but to calm her angry nerves by biting viciously into something. She had almost made it to her target when Wind stopped her.

"How's it going?" Wind asked casually. Way too casually, especially for Wind.

"Better if you'd get out of my way."

Wind laughed unconvincingly. "You're so funny. Come on, let's sit down and have a nice chat!"

"You can't frighten me with your threats," Jane warned. Then she frowned. "Wait, you're in an awfully good mood for someone who was recently dumped."

Wind shook his head, cheerful expression still frozen on his face. "No, no, no. Erin and I worked things out."

"Worked things out? When? It was only--" Jane broke off. She looked at the phone, which was sitting off the hook, then back at her brother again. She groaned. "I get it. You've been talking to her on the phone. She put you up to this?"

"Up to what?" Wind asked innocently, but his voice cracked guiltily.

Jane held up a hand and edged around him. "Don't bother. If anyone asks, I'll tell them you tried to help me but I tied you to a tree and threatened to set it on fire if you didn't leave me alone." When Wind tried to speak, she continued, "Unless you'd rather we just go through with that right now. I know where I can get some rope. Care to keep pushing me?"

Wind gulped. "Enjoy your snack," he said quietly, stepping out of the way.

"Smartest decision you've ever made," Jane told him, opening the fridge.

Wind picked up the phone again. "Erin?" he said into it quietly. "It didn't work...What? Why? Well, I'll ask her...."

Jane was just about to head upstairs with a slice of cold leftover pizza when Wind called out her name. "Could you come in here for a moment?"

"I could, but I don't want to."

"Please? Look, don't blame me for this; Erin wants to talk to you."

"Erin? The hell?"

"Please just come over here," Wind pleaded.

Jane took a longing look at her pizza and turned around to join Wind in the kitchen again. He handed her the phone. "Make it fast," she said into it.

"Hi, Jane!" said Erin's chipper voice. "Listen, Daria's really upset about the fight you had and I think you probably are, too. And I figured that if Wind and I can make up, then so can you guys!"

"Remind me how this is any of your business?" Jane growled.

"It's not, except that you might be my sister-in-law someday."

Jane squeezed her eyes shut. "Look, if you promise never to say that ever again, then I'll talk to you."

"Deal!" There was an odd clicking sound over the line, and for a brief moment Jane optimistically hoped the line had disconnected. No luck. "Go ahead," Erin said to her.

Jane sighed. "If Daria really wants to make up, then tell her that I'm sick of being her sounding board for her problems with Tom. I don't know if she's noticed, but that's not exactly my favorite topic. Second, I'd appreciate her not talking about college as though it's the only possible choice for everybody's future."

"Oh, that's so true!" Erin said with a giggle. "I mean, _I_ didn't go to college and I turned out fine!"

Jane was silenced for a few moments. "Okay, maybe I'll give my options a little more thought."

"Huh?" Then Erin shook off her confusion. "Anyway, what do you think of that, Daria?"

"Daria?" Jane was completely lost at this point.

Daria's voice came over the line at that point. "I think it was a sneaky thing to do, and I begrudgingly admit that it worked." She sighed. "Hang up the other line, Erin."

"Will do. Have a good night, Jane!"

There was a click, and Daria and Jane were left alone on the phone line. "I'm sorry I put you in an awkward position about Tom," Daria told her friend.

"And I'm sorry I didn't just tell you that the college thing was bothering me," Jane admitted.

"I'm also sorry that Erin's cheap little ploy worked, because you just know she'll try it again the first chance she gets."

Jane eyed Wind, who was watching her eagerly. "Yeah, it's a bad habit we're going to have to beat out of them quickly. But if you'll excuse me, my pizza is getting warm."

" _Bon appétit_."

  
  


Daria woke up, annoyed because someone was gently shaking her. _The house had better be on fire again_ , she thought sleepily, prepared to unleash her wrath on whoever was waking her in the middle of the night. She opened her eyes and saw a wide-eyed and disheveled Tom staring at her in fear. They'd fallen asleep working on homework in her room, and now it was four in the morning and--

 

"Oh, God," she said quietly. "We've got to get you the hell out of here!"

"Works for me," Tom said in a panicked whisper. He was making his way down the stairs a short time later when a voice stopped him dead.

"Hey!"

Tom almost fell down the remaining stairs, and was about to squeak out a reply when another voice answered first. "Mr. Morgendorffer, I can explain!" That was when Tom finally noticed a blond man struggling with the door.

As Jake staggered over and helped Wind open the stuck door, Tom realized that he was completely drunk. He edged the rest of the way down the stairs and then scampered into the living room closet while they were distracted. As soon as the coast was clear, he hurried outside and saw Wind heading down the street at a fast trot. For a moment he considered offering him a ride home but decided that, under the circumstances, it would be better if they just pretended not to see each other.

He was just climbing into his car when he heard the faint shriek of "WHAT?!" rattling the windows.

"Time to go," he muttered, hitting the accelerator.

Back inside, Daria heard both the shout and the squealing tires and counted down the inevitable maternal intrusion. "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand...." She trailed off, hearing voices coming from...the guest room?

She slipped out of bed and crept down the hall toward the guest room. As she drew closer, she could hear her mother speaking. "I may not be your mother, but I am responsible for what happens in this house! Now explain yourself, young lady!"

"Aunt Helen, it's no big deal!" Erin said. "Wind and I are both grown adults, after all."

Daria's eyes widened. _The good news is, I didn't get in trouble_ , she thought as she returned to her room. _The bad news is, things are going to be_ very _awkward around here_.

  
  


Daria's prediction proved correct. Breakfast the following morning was eaten in uncomfortable silence if you ignored Quinn's prattle, which Daria generally did. Jake was especially twitchy, refusing to even look at Erin. Seeing the dark looks Helen kept shooting in Erin's direction, Daria experienced a rare feeling: glad to go to school.

After Daria and Quinn had left for Lawndale High and Helen for the law firm, Jake was abruptly alone at the table with Erin. She sipped her orange juice, trying not to let her discomfort show. Jake toyed with the edge of the newspaper he'd already finished reading, idly wondering if he could get away with pretending to read it a second time.

"Uncle Jake?"

"Gah!" Jake started, knocking the newspaper onto the floor and almost falling out of his chair at the same time. "I mean, yes?"

Erin set down her glass. "Is something bothering you?"

"No! I mean, not exactly, that is...everything's fine!"

"Then why won't you look at me?"

Jake, who had so far been speaking directly to the houseplant in the corner, slowly turned his gaze toward Erin. His eyes kept flickering away, but for the most part he managed to keep his focus in her general vicinity.

Erin wasn't completely satisfied with this, but accepted it for the time being. "That's better. Now, are you angry at me?"

"Um...." Jake gulped. The last thing he wanted to do was have this conversation right then, or ever. "Gosh, I'd love to stay and talk but--" He coughed. "I'm having a little trouble with my throat right now." He forced another fake cough that turned into a real one. "Hey, you know what? I think that might actually be true!" He frowned, forgetting about Erin's late-night escapades for the time being. "In fact, my throat has felt funny ever since I ate at Tokyo Toby's last night. You think something might have been wrong with the sushi?"

"Hmm." Erin tapped her chin. "It's definitely possible. One of my prep school friends once ate some bad sushi and she got super sick from parasites. It took forever for us to figure it out because she was always getting trashed and puking her guts out--" She stopped, seeing how green Jake was turning. "Sorry, I guess that was more than you needed to hear."

Jake shook his head. "Not that...parasites? You think I have a...." He couldn't even say the word a second time, and just gestured at his throat with a panicky look on his face.

Erin shrugged. "If you're worried, just go have a doctor take a look."

"...Can't...." Jake's eyes were wide, his face was sweaty, and his voice was a raspy whisper.

"What is it?" Erin asked, concerned. "Is this one of those 'I'm a man, I don't need a doctor' things? Brian used to be like that and I always told him--"

"No!" Jake gasped. "Can't...."

"Can't what?" Erin demanded. "Can't handle a visit to the doctor's office? Can't afford the copay? Can't _what_?"

"Can't drive!" Jake squeaked. "Too scared!"

"Oh." Erin's frustration vanished and she smiled brightly at him. "No problem! I'll drive."

Jake handed her the keys to his Lexus with a shaking hand and followed her to the car. His relief was short-lived, however, when he witnessed Erin's driving skills in action.

"Where did you learn to drive?!" he shouted as Erin rounded a turn at forty miles an hour. His fear of parasites had been replaced by a fear of dying in a car crash, which loosened his tongue enough to speak in full sentences again.

Erin waved a dismissive hand in the air, which was unfortunate because her other hand was resting next to the open window. "I didn't technically take driving lessons," she explained, bumping into a curb as she veered into a new lane without checking for traffic. A blaring horn told Jake that part, because by then he had his eyes squeezed tight. "I just kind of picked it up as I went along, you know?" Erin continued, not noticing any of it.

"I don't think you picked up as much as you think."

"You're so funny, Uncle Jake! Now, which way is the doctor's office?"

Jake pried his eyes open. "Go straight at this light." When Erin stepped on the accelerator he screamed, "After it turns green! After it turns green!"

Jake continued directing Erin, peeking out from between his fingers as he kept covering his eyes at every near-death experience. "Here we are!" Erin finally called out, screeching to a halt across two parking spaces.

Jake slowly pried his hands off of the dashboard. Seeing that the Lexus was still in one piece, he let out a long breath and then remembered why they were there. "Oh, God," he whimpered.

Erin got out and walked around to the other side of the car. She opened Jake's door and held out her hand. "Come on," she said in a soothing voice. "Everything's going to be just fine."

"Promise?" Jake asked in a childlike tone. Erin nodded with a smile and he took her hand as he climbed out of the car. He clung to her hand the entire way into the doctor's office, where they learned that Dr. Hask would be able to see him soon due to a cancellation.

As they sat together in the waiting room--Jake still clutching Erin's hand--Jake asked, "How do you do that?"

"Is this about my driving again?" Erin asked, feeling defensive.

Jake shook his head. "You calmed me down by just talking to me. How did you do that?"

Erin laughed quietly. "Oh, that? You try dealing with a super high-strung grandma for twenty-four years and you'd pick up a few tricks, too."

The waiting room door opened and a nurse stepped out. "Jake Morgen--uh...Morg--"

"That's me," Jake said, standing up.

Erin stayed seated. "Do you want me to wait here or--?" Jake grip on her hand tightened in answer. "Okay then." Suppressing a smile, she followed him in.

  
  


"Whoa, that is one hell of a parasite!" Dr. Hask said as he held a probe in Jake's throat. "Now hold on! One, two, three!" On "three," he yanked out a horrific-looking parasite and showed it to Jake and Erin.

"You did such a good job!" Erin gushed, giving Jake's hand an extra squeeze.

Dr. Hask briefly examined the parasite before disposing of it. "When was the last time you had sushi?" he asked knowingly.

Jake looked uncomfortable. "Um...."

"Last night at Tokyo Toby's," Erin supplied.

"Tokyo Toby's?!" Hask exploded. "When is the health department going to shut that worm factory down? This is the third anisakid I've seen come out of that place in two months!"

"Eep!" Jake said, shuddering. Erin put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a comforting squeeze.

Later, as they walked across the parking lot together, Jake took a shaky breath and said, "Thank you for helping me, Erin."

"No problem, Uncle Jake," Erin replied cheerfully. "Does this mean you're over it now?"

"Over the parasite that was lodged in my digestive system all that time?" Jake squeezed his eyes shut at the memory. "I don't think I'll ever get over that."

Erin shook her head. "No, I mean whatever's been bothering you all morning to the point where you wouldn't even look me in the eye. I assume it has something to do with you guys catching Wind sneaking out of the house last night?"

Jake stopped right in the middle of the parking lot. A car horn honked and Erin grabbed his arm to guide him across to the Lexus. "Oh, that," he said weakly.

"Yes. That." Erin crossed her arms. "Spill it. I'm not some immature teenager, Uncle Jake. We were careful, especially considering I have--"

"Okay, okay!" Jake cried, covering his ears. "I get it!" He lowered his hands again and looked sheepishly at her. "It's just that I didn't realize you two were _that_ serious, you know? And now I'm just a third wheel."

Erin wrapped both arms around Jake and hugged him tightly. "You are never going to be a third wheel, Uncle Jake," she informed him sternly. "You were the first person to really make me feel welcome, and I will never forget that. No guy, no matter how much I care for him, is going to change our friendship."

Jake turned red, both embarrassed at the public scene they were creating and pleased at her words. "You see me as a friend?" he asked.

"Of course," Erin confirmed, releasing him from the hug.

"Woo hoo!" Jake cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "I have a _friend_! In your face, old man! I have a real, non-imaginary friend at last!"

Now it was Erin's turn to feel embarrassed as heads turned to look curiously at them. "Come on, Uncle Jake," she said. "Let's get you home to rest, okay?"

"Sure, friend," Jake agreed happily. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

Jake snatched the keys out of her hand. "I drive."

  
  


Later that evening, Erin was on her way to the guest room when she heard a muffled groan coming from Daria's room. Curious, she poked her head in to see Daria lying face down on her bed with a pillow over her head.

"Are you okay?" Erin asked.

"Peachy," replied Daria's voice from under the pillow.

Erin knew by now that this was Daria's way of warning her to leave her alone, but she was still in a good mood from helping Jake that morning and couldn't resist. "If you have a problem, maybe I could help with it."

Daria pulled the pillow away and turned her head to glare at her cousin. "The easiest way for you to solve my current problem is to remove it by leaving."

The venom in her voice was unmistakable. "Oh. Never mind. Won't happen again." Erin backed out of the room and was about to shut the door behind her.

"Wait." The word was said so quietly that for a moment Erin thought she had imagined it. Then she turned to look at Daria and knew she hadn't. Daria had sat up and was looking at her. Her mouth was a tightly-pressed line, but her expression was miserable.

Without hesitating, Erin stepped back into the room and shut the door. She crossed the space between them in a moment and wrapped Daria in a giant hug. For just a second Daria reflexively pulled back, but then sighed and accepted the hug. "So what's going on?" she asked cautiously, leaning back again. "You can talk to me."

Daria drew her knees up to her chin and held onto them with both arms. "I guess," she muttered. "Everyone else does. Maybe after Tom dumps me you can have a nice long chat with him, too."

"Tom? Why would he dump you? He seems like a really nice guy. Did something happen between you guys?"

Daria gazed silently at Erin until she became uncomfortable. "What?" Erin finally asked. "Why are you looking at me like--wait, do you mean it has something to do with _me_?"

"Yes...no...I don't know, okay?" Daria looked frustrated. "It's hard to explain. See, Tom and I get along all right in general, but there are a lot of differences between us. Seeing you together puts those differences into _really_ sharp relief."

"Uh, okay." Then Erin shook her head. "No, back up. I actually need you to explain that."

Daria sighed and shifted uncomfortably. "Put simply, you and Tom have very similar backgrounds. You connect with him in ways I can't, and it's like a constant reminder of the huge gaping distance between us."

"Oh." Erin, finally feeling on solid ground, was ready to offer advice now. "You know, money and social class aren't actually such a big deal. I mean, Brian and I were--were...." Just a second too late, Erin realized that her example was doomed to failure. "Okay, scratch that. Wind and I--"

"--have been dating for maybe two days," Daria pointed out.

Erin couldn't think of a good response, or any response at all. Fortunately, Daria took the silence as invitation to continue. "And because of that, I keep picking these stupid fights about nothing with Tom. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with." Erin was smart enough not to comment. "It's not like I'm _trying_ to push him away."

Erin was still at a loss. "Aren't you?" she asked, stalling with a question as she tried to come up with a better reply.

Daria looked at her in surprise. "I hadn't really considered it, honestly." She bit her lip. "You mean I might be taking the easy route by picking fights?"

"Maybe?" Erin had no idea, but Daria seemed to be on a roll.

"I think I see what you mean. I'm struggling with a lot of issues, like getting ready for college and worrying about whether Tom and I can survive in a long-distance relationship. I guess instead of just talking about this stuff like a normal person I'm lashing out in order to keep Tom at a safe distance." She sighed. "I have to be honest--I do have a history of that kind of thing."

"Do you?" Erin asked, barely keeping up at this point.

"Yeah." Daria looked down thoughtfully for a while before raising her face again to look gratefully at Erin. "I have to admit, talking to you did help. Especially since this topic is kind of off-limits for Jane now. Um...thanks. Especially thanks for not resorting to a ridiculously convoluted plot to help me this time."

"No problem," Erin said, feeling relieved that she'd somehow managed to stumble into helping her cousin but also strangely upset. It wasn't until she'd gotten back to her own room that it finally hit her. _I'm almost ten years older than she is and had way more experience with dating. I've even been married_ , she thought. _How come she's so much smarter about relationships than I am?_

Erin was tempted to turn around and go ask Daria for relationship advice. _She said something about pushing people away whenever things get difficult. Well, I definitely get that. I've never really had to work for anything, and avoiding conflict must run in the family. Only instead of pushing people away like Daria, I just retreat and go with the flow. Caving in to Grandma's demands, letting Brian talk me into that dumb pre-nup, smiling and nodding whenever Mother introduces me to her latest boyfriend. It wasn't until I moved here that I started learning to stand up for myself._

_And the first thing I did was push too far_ , she realized, thinking about her over-the-top argument with Wind. She frowned, reminding herself that Wind had his share of the blame for the fight. He'd overreacted, big time. _Which, from what he's told me about his past relationships, is pretty much how he does everything._ At first she'd been charmed by how sensitive he was, but she was starting to see that his clinginess was becoming a problem.

There was something else, too. Something that had been tickling the back of her mind for a while, but she hadn't quite put her finger on it. What was it that was bothering her about Wind? She was sure if she thought about it for just a little longer she'd figure it out.

The phone rang while she was thinking. A minute later, Jake's voice rang out from downstairs, "Erin! It's for you! It's Wind!"

Erin forgot her concerns immediately as she dashed for the closest phone. "Hiiiii, Wind!" she gushed as soon as she picked up. "I was _just_ thinking about you!"

"No way!" Wind said, giggling. "I was just thinking about _you_!"

  
  


"Daria?" Erin found her cousin standing in the kitchen, staring out the window. "Is something wrong?"

Daria jumped slightly and turned to look at Erin. "Oh. Um, yeah. I mean, no. I'm fine."

"Is it about Tom?" Erin guessed.

Daria shook her head. "No. He's on vacation with his family for the next week, so I haven't had a chance to talk to him about stuff yet." She glanced out the window again and then abruptly left the room with an odd look on her face.

Erin took Daria's place at the window and peered out to see what was so interesting. All she could see was an empty refrigerator box. _Weird_.

"Erin, what are you looking--oh." Helen had come in and had seen the box. "I see they took away that heavy, old refrigerator but didn't even touch the cardboard box. Well, the trash collectors come tomorrow morning. Would you mind taking it to the curb--"

"Not at all, Aunt Helen!" Erin replied cheerfully. She'd been feeling like she was overstaying her welcome, so she was eager for any opportunity to help out.

"I'll go get Daria and Quinn to help you," Helen said, turning to look for her daughters.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Erin assured her. "It's light, and I don't mind doing it myself."

  
  


The next morning, Erin was pouring out some cereal for breakfast when Helen entered and glanced out the window. "Erin, did you forget about the box?" she asked curiously.

Erin came over to the window and saw the box was back where it had been before. "No, Aunt Helen," she said in surprise. "I took it to the curb like you asked." She sighed. "I'll go take care of it, though."

She dragged the box to the curb for the second time in as many days, beginning to feel like someone was playing a prank on her. The feeling came back tenfold that afternoon when she walked into the kitchen and found Helen arguing with Daria.

"Daria, why is that refrigerator box in the backyard again?"

Erin dashed to the window and stifled a groan. Somehow that box had reappeared yet again. _It's like some kind of sign_. She turned around to see a distressed look on Daria's face. "Aunt Helen?" she said as inspiration struck. "It's my fault."

It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Daria or Helen. Helen spoke first. "Why in the world would you drag the box back and forth?" she asked.

Erin smiled. "Well, I was thinking that you all have been more than generous in letting me stay here, but it's time I got a place of my own and stopped mooching. And if I'm going to move out, then a great big box is exactly what I'm going to need!"

Helen blinked in pleased surprise at her words. "Oh...that's _great_ , Erin!" She cringed. "Not that it's great that you're leaving, but great that, um, never mind." She gave up trying and just walked out of the kitchen, leaving Erin and Daria alone together.

"You're welcome," Erin told Daria.

"For what?" the hostility in Daria's voice startled Erin. "For stealing my box?"

"I'm sorry?" Erin stammered, now completely off-balance. "I was covering for you...wasn't I?"

Daria glared at her. "I don't need you to do anything for me and I don't know why everyone's trying to hide the truth about that box!" She stomped out of the room, leaving Erin to wonder what the hell just happened.

  
  


The next day, Erin and Wind were walking up the Morgendorffers' driveway after a lunch date when they saw Daria burst out of the house and head straight for the SUV. Something about the look on Daria's face made Erin change course, dragging Wind along behind her. Daria sat down in the driver's seat just as the front and back passenger side doors opened. "What are you doing?" she asked Erin as she and Wind climbed into the car.

"Coming with you," Erin said. "Where are we going?"

Helen and Jake had followed Daria out of the house and were coming their way. Daria hesitated for just a moment, then started the car and began backing out. "The Cove," she said.

Erin gave Helen and Jake what she hoped was a reassuring wave as they watched them drive away. Then she turned to Daria. "Sounds nice. Where is it?"

"About four hours away, but you're not coming," Daria told her bluntly. "I needed to drive away before they," she paused to jerk her head behind them in the general direction of her parents, "tried to stop me. As soon as I get out of sight I'm dropping you both off and you can walk back."

"Heck no," Erin said excitedly. "I haven't had a road trip in, like, forever!"

"Yeah, me either," Wind said eagerly. "Of course, I lost the car in my last divorce, so that might have something to do with it."

Daria looked sideways at them out of the corner of her eye. "I bet you pick up guitar-playing hitchhikers, don't you?"

Erin wrinkled her nose. "Hitchhikers? Ew, no. That's how you end up serial murdered."

"I'm not interested in passengers," Daria said bluntly.

"Tough," Erin replied cheerfully. "We're coming along anyway."

"We are?" Wind asked, surprised. Seeing the determined look on her face he said, "Oh, we _are_. Okay."

Still talking to Daria, Erin continued, "There's two of us and we're both bigger than you are. Good luck making us get out. So you can either let us come along or get out and walk to the Cove. Your choice."

Daria groaned. "Fine. But make yourself useful." She picked up the cellphone and tossed it to Erin. "Call the Sloanes," she instructed, telling her the phone number. "Ask for Tom and let him know I--or _we_ \--are on our way."

Erin dialed and waited for an answer before saying in an extremely formal voice, "Hello, my name is Erin Chambers. Hmmm? Yes, _that_ Chambers family. My mother is Rita Barksdale, perhaps you've met--you have? Wonderful. Hmm? Correct, she's my grandmother. I'm delighted to speak with you, too, Mrs. Sloane. All right, Katherine. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Well, I should get to the point. I'm currently in the company of Miss Daria Morgendorffer and my gentleman friend, Mr. Wind Lane. Will you be at home to visitors later today?" Another pause. "Lovely to hear it. We will arrive in a few hours. Ta ta!" She turned the phone off and grinned at Daria. "I think I'm going to get along very well with her."

"I have a terrible feeling that you're right," Daria grumbled, driving on as a light rain began to fall.

"Daria, slow down!" Wind cried out.

Reflexively Daria braked, just as a car ahead of them swerved, causing a major pile-up. The SUV sat just inches away from the accident, Daria having stopped just in time. Once she had calmed down enough to breathe regularly, she turned her head to look at Wind. "How did you know that was going to happen?"

He shook his head. "Oh, I didn't. You were just going too fast." He chuckled nervously. "I tend to freak out if I'm in a car going over 30 miles an hour," he explained. "Hey, I wonder if that's why Katie refuses to go on road trips!"

"Might be," Daria muttered, too relieved to feel annoyed with Wind's cluelessness at that moment. She looked at the crash site ahead of them, where police officers were already arriving and directing traffic around the accident. "Guess we should continue on to the Cove," she said, starting to move forward.

"No." Erin put her hand on Daria's shoulder. "You're shaking like crazy. Pull off at the first exit and let me take over."

Daria, having heard about Erin's driving from Jake, looked doubtful. "Maybe Wind should--" She stopped, thinking about what a trip to the Cove would be like at twenty-five miles per hour and shuddered. "Never mind."

"Just pull off," Erin told her. "We'll figure out what to do after that."

Daria nodded and drove carefully around the accident. She took the first exit and found a small coffee shop soon after, where she parked the SUV and finally peeled her hands off of the wheel.

"Let's go in and get something to drink," Erin advised.

"At a coffee shop?" Wind said. "Have you already forgotten that you can't stand coffee?"

Erin bit back her retort at the very last moment, realizing just in time that he was teasing her. "Just get in there," she told him, leaning back to give him a playful swat on the head.

Daria mechanically unbuckled her seat belt and got out, following Erin and Wind through the rain and into the coffee shop. Inside, Erin ordered tea, Wind ordered coffee, and Daria stared at the counter until Erin ordered her a hot cocoa and guided her to a table and sat her down.

"Okay, talk," she ordered Daria.

Daria slowly raised her eyes to look at her cousin. "Name, rank, and serial number," she muttered, the snarky comment coming from autopilot.

"You're not just upset about the near-car accident," Erin told her. "And you've been acting weird ever since you took off with your mom's car." She giggled. "I mean, I used to do that kind of thing all the time. But you? Since when do you do impulsive stuff like that?"

For a minute Daria seemed to be looking for a sarcastic comeback, but at last gave up. "Since the refrigerator box," she said quietly.

"Hey, that's right," Erin said, realizing. "What was up with _that_ , anyway?"

So Daria took a deep breath and let out the whole story. How she'd been a difficult child, how she'd frequently taken refuge in an old refrigerator box when times were difficult, and how she'd driven her parents to a massive argument in the middle of the night. "I guess I never noticed that I was causing them so much trouble," she finally admitted.

Erin and Wind looked at Daria in silence for a little while before simultaneously bursting into laughter.

Irritated, Daria glared at them both. "I'm glad my unhappiness is causing you so much joy," she grumbled.

"It's not that," Erin said, calming down with great effort. "It's just that, well, if I freaked out every time I upset my mother, I'd probably be a walking basket case."

"So she got called into school all the time because you were writing violent revenge fantasies?" Daria asked, skeptical.

Erin snorted. "No, she got called into school all the time because I got caught smoking a joint in the girl's bathroom. And cutting class to make out with Blake Kensington behind the bleachers. And sneaking wine coolers into biology class so my friends and I could get wasted instead of dissecting that disgusting frog."

Daria blinked at her. "Ah. So how did you deal with the knowledge that you were making your mother's life miserable?"

Raising an eyebrow, Erin only said, "Easy. Because she made _my_ life just as miserable."

"That's what I always thought about _my_ parents," Daria said glumly. "But it turns out _I_ \--"

"No." Erin shook her head briskly and crossed her arms. "It's not your job to make your parents' lives easy. It's your parents' job to make _your_ life easy."

"I'm not sure that's quite--" Daria started to say, but Erin interrupted again.

"Look, all my life my mother has given me everything I wanted. Toys, clothes, money, whatever. Anything she didn't give me, I got from Grandma. In return, I kept my mouth shut while Mom dated a parade of idiots, creeps, and deadbeats. I shrugged it off whenever she blew me off for some random guy. I kept my feelings to myself because it might be inconvenient for me to be unhappy."

Daria looked at Erin with a slightly newer understanding of her cousin. "Is that really how you grew up?" she asked.

Erin nodded. "Pretty much. How about you, Wind?"

Wind looked startled to be brought into the conversation so abruptly. "Uh...I guess I kept my problems to myself too when I was little, but that was more because my parents usually weren't around to listen. I could do whatever I wanted, but if I had a problem I either dealt with it myself or didn't deal with it at all." He shrugged. "More often that last one."

Erin took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before turning her attention back to Daria. "So, life is a trade-off. Can you honestly say your problems with your parents are bad enough to run away over?"

"Um...after talking to you two I think I appreciate them more than I ever have."

"Great," Erin said. "So which way are we going now? The Cove or back home?"

Daria took a long sip of her cocoa and then answered, "To the Cove. If I'm going to do this, let's get it over with."

They piled back into the SUV, and Daria had calmed down enough to drive again. By unspoken agreement the three of them limited conversation to fluffy, non-upsetting topics like favorite overseas vacation spots (Erin), corny jokes (Wind), and the pros and cons of Transcendentalism's impact on literature (Daria, accompanied by many vacant smiles and nods on the part of her companions).

By the time they reached the Cove, everyone was ready for a break. They practically staggered out of the car and found Kay waiting for them outside. "Welcome!" she called. "Tom's inside. Won't you all come in and have some refreshments?"

Daria came in with the others but stopped, frozen, when she saw Tom approach. Erin and Wind both nudged her forward hard enough that she almost fell over. Erin hissed in her ear, "Go. Talk." With a resolute nod, Daria met Tom partway and pulled him aside for a quiet conversation.

While they talked, Erin and Wind were handed plates of hors d'oeuvres and urged to make themselves at home. Erin barely nibbled at her food, too engrossed in watching Daria and Tom to notice what she was eating. "Do you think it's going well?" she nervously asked Wind.

"No one's yelling or sobbing," Wind pointed out. "In my experience, that means it's going great." He saw that Erin didn't even crack a smile. "Hey," he said, tugging at her sleeve. "Don't worry; they'll be fine."

"I guess," Erin said, finally turning her attention back to him. "I don't even know why I'm so invested in their relationship. I mean, so they're having a rough patch. They're both smart kids; they can work it out."

"Yeah," Wind said, popping a cracker into his mouth. "I'm just glad we don't hit rough patches."

"We don't?" Erin looked skeptically at him.

"Well, not over anything important," he amended.

"That's because we don't talk about anything important," Erin said, as much to herself as to him. "Don't you think maybe that's not--"

"Talking's overrated," Wind said, raising a suggestive eyebrow at her.

Erin let out a tiny shiver and giggled. "So does that mean I don't have to call you Ronald anymore when we're...you know?"

Wind blushed, but before he could reply Kay had returned to see if either of them needed anything.

At last Tom and Daria were saying their goodbyes, and Erin was barely able to wait until they had left the house to ask, "How did it go? Tell me everything."

Daria looked tired, but relieved. "He understood, and admitted that he's worried about what's going to happen to us after graduation, too."

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

Daria shrugged. "We talked about it. Tom's solution is for both of us to just go to the same college, but--" Frowning, she stopped herself. "Anyway, at least we're on the same page now."

Erin nodded eagerly. "Communication is vital. That's like, the most important thing in a relationship, right, Wind?"

"Uh, definitely," Wind agreed, trying not to let on that he hadn't been paying attention to the conversation.

Daria glanced at her watch. "We need to head back. It's already getting late, and we've got a long drive."

Erin gasped. "Oh, no! We never called your parents to tell them what was going on. They must be frantic!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out the cell phone that she'd turned off earlier. She hit the power button and was just about to dial when it rang. She answered it. "Hello?" She winced and pulled the phone away from her ear as an unintelligible rant came bellowing out of it. "Here," she said, thrusting the phone at Wind. "It's for you."

Daria insisting on driving back, and Wind sat in the back again as he tried to talk Jake and Helen down. They arrived back at the Morgendorffer house without any further incidents. Erin and Wind sent Daria inside to speak with her worried parents while they waited outside to give them some privacy.

"So, that was something," Wind said thoughtfully.

"Sure was," Erin agreed. Both of them shuffled awkwardly on the front step, but neither knew why they were feeling uncomfortable. _Why is this weird?_ Erin wondered. _We just helped Daria deal with her feelings over a fight her parents had and...hm._ "Wind?" she asked out loud. "Did it bother you to hear about Aunt Helen and Uncle Jake having problems in their relationship?"

"Not really," Wind answered. "But I don't know them that well, so--"

"I don't mean that," Erin explained. "I mean, they've been married for like a zillion years, but they still argue a lot. Maybe not like they did when Daria was little, but they do disagree on a lot of stuff."

"I see," Wind replied quietly. "You mean like us."

"Not just us," Erin said, struggling to find the right words as she spoke. "My mom argues with every guy she dates, and any time she has a fight like the one Daria's parents did then the relationship is over immediately. I know I fought with Brian all the time, and we split up pretty quickly. So what makes them different?" She bit her lip. "What would make _us_ different?"

Wind wrapped his arms around her and held on. "We do. We make sure it doesn't happen to us."

"But with our track record...." Erin said, trailing off as she tallied it up. "Between my mom's date-and-dump habit and my short-lived marriage, I can't say I like the idea of taking the chance on yet another break-up. And then when you factor in all of your history on top of that, it just seems like a terrible idea. What if--"

"Nope." Wind smiled at her and squeezed her gently. "We're going to make it, and I'll prove it to you."

"How?" Erin was torn between skepticism and hope.

Wind pulled back to grin at her. "Let's move in together."

"I don't know...." Erin was tempted, but somehow the idea didn't sit right.

"Don't overthink this," Wind urged. "And anyway, I know I'm wearing out my welcome around Jane and Trent." He frowned. "Well, Jane, anyway. I don't actually see Trent much."

Erin nodded slowly. "You have a point. Aunt Helen was awfully happy the other day when I mentioned I was thinking about moving out." She gave Wind a shaky smile. "Sure, why not? Let's do it."

Wind squealed like a child and pulled Erin back into a bear hug. "I'm going to go home and pack right now!" He started to pull away, but Erin held on.

"Wind?" she asked, trying not to laugh. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh, right!" Wind smacked himself on the forehead and then leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Not that," Erin said, still holding on to his arm. "We need a place to move _to_ , don't we?"

"Um...true." Wind's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Shall we go apartment hunting?"

  
  


The search for an apartment took much less time than they expected, thanks to a combination of good luck and Erin's surprising knowledge of the process. "Brian may not have been able to pass his real estate exams," she explained, "but I picked up enough information to get by!"

The couple stood in the middle of their new one-bedroom apartment with satisfaction. The wallpaper was peeling, the carpets were threadbare, and hot water, according to the landlord, was "iffy." Still, it was home and it was theirs. "Paradise," Wind said, gazing dopily at Erin as they stood on the front step. Erin held a bag of groceries and Wind held the house key. He unlocked the front door and, without warning, swooped Erin up in his arms to carry her across the threshold. He only made it two and a half steps before staggering and almost dropping her, but managed to put her down gently and neither of them got hurt.

Erin was still giggling as she helped him steady himself. "Shall I put something together for dinner?" she asked, adjusting her grip on the grocery bag.

"That sounds lovely," Wind said. "I'll help." He followed her into the kitchen, where Erin opened a cupboard and screamed. "What?" he exclaimed, taking a nervous step backwards.

"A mouse!" Erin cried. "I saw it for just a second and then it scurried off...somewhere." She put the bag down on the counter with a thump and backed up until she was standing in the center of the room, as far as possible from any of the walls.

"Is that all?" Wind asked, chuckling with relief. "The way you yelled, I thought you'd found a severed head in there!"

Erin pouted. "It was scary!" she insisted. "It was big and ugly and...and...yuck!" She hugged herself with both arms. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Me?" Wind protested. "Why do I have to do it?" Seeing her vicious glare, he held up his hands and quickly backtracked. "Okay, okay. I'll go get some traps right now." He turned to leave, but Erin grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me alone with the mice!" she whimpered.

Wind sighed. "All right, then _you_ go get some mousetraps."

"Can't we both go?" Erin pleaded.

"But one of us should start dinner," Wind pointed out. "I'm getting hungry!"

"Maybe we could just go out," Erin suggested, glancing warily around the kitchen as though expecting a swarm of mice to emerge from every directions.

"We can't afford to go out to eat now that we're going to be paying rent," Wind told her. "So which do you want to do--dinner or mousetraps?"

Erin stood still, partly from fear of the mice and partly because she honestly wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to stay in the house alone with a bunch of vermin, but she also had no idea how one went about acquiring mousetraps. Did they sell them at the grocery store? The mall? If so, which store? What if there was more than one kind? Which one should she get, and how many? Before she'd cut ties with her mother, she would have just opened the phone book and called an exterminator, or more likely have someone call an exterminator for her. Of course, back then she'd never set eyes on a real mouse outside of a pet store.

Then there was the other option--staying home and making dinner. In spite of her earlier bravado, she had absolutely no idea how to cook. Growing up, all of her meals just showed up on the table with no clues about how they came to be. During her time at the Morgendorffers' she had learned how to heat up frozen lasagna but not much else. Unless you counted watching Uncle Jake's attempts at cooking, and honestly Erin would rather starve then recreate any of _those_ "masterpieces."

The more she thought about it, the more anxious she got. And soon that anxiety turned to anger. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

"Doing what?" Wind asked in confusion.

"Pushing me to do things I don't want to!" she wailed. "You're just another manipulator, trying to force me into a mold I don't want to fit into!" She knew she sounded whiny, but now there were tears in her eyes and she couldn't seem to stop herself now. "Just like my grandma, my mom, and Brian!" She stamped her foot. "Why can't anyone just let me be _me_?"

Wind stood there, a blank expression on his face. In the minute or two of silence that followed, Erin began to regret her behavior. She was just about to apologize when Wind leaned his head back and began to howl.

"I can't live like this!" he screeched, actually tearing at his hair in anguish. "I can't do anything right, no matter how hard I try, and I'm never going to find love and I'm going to die alone and unhappy!"

"Don't you dare pretend like _you're_ the victim here! _I'm_ the one who's suffering!"

"You?" Wind shouted. "Ha! You're just like all the others. Pretend to care about me then start making outrageous demands and getting jealous of everyone and cheating on me with all your coworkers!"

"That's crazy," Erin yelled. "I don't even _have_ a job!"

"Maybe you should!" Wind was turning red. "Then you'd be able to understand how normal people live!"

"I have worked before!" Erin was losing herself in the argument and her anger. "I had to get a job when Brian--" She stopped and gasped in horror. "Of course! You only want me to get a job so you can mooch off me! Well, tough luck, mister. I'm not falling for that one again!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Wind's voice sounded hoarse from all of the shouting.

"Only because you don't pay attention when I talk to you!" Erin's shrill cries were even hurting her own ears.

"You're one to talk. You never even listen to me!"

"Melodramatic whiner!"

"Self-centered brat!"

They were both silenced by someone banging loudly on the door. When they opened it, they found a red-faced man glaring at them. "The whole apartment building can hear you," he informed them angrily. "Keep it down or I'll call the police." He turned and stomped away down the hall.

In the quiet that followed, Wind and Erin could hear a baby crying in another apartment nearby. "Sorry!" Wind called after the man, then shut the door.

Erin sighed and reached for her jacket. "I'm going to take a walk and clear my head," she told him.

Wind let out a loud yelp, then glanced at the door and covered his mouth. More quietly, but still in a panicked tone of voice, he said, "I knew it! You're leaving me!"

Erin rolled her eyes. "No, I just need some space," she told him, "but you're really starting to tempt me."

This time Wind didn't raise his voice or even speak at all. His only response was to cover his face with his hands and sob uncontrollably. For just a moment Erin felt a strong impulse to hold him until he calmed down and tell him that everything was going to be all right. The moment passed quickly, though, when she realized that she did not, in fact, know that everything was going to be all right. She turned away, leaving him to his tears and shutting the door behind her as she left.

  
  


Erin stood outside the Morgendorffer house, unsure if she could still just walk right in or if she was expected to knock first now. The decision was taken out of her hands when the door opened and Jake appeared. "Oh!" he said, startled. "Um, I was just coming out to check the mail." He shifted awkwardly for a while before stepping aside to let Erin in. "Did you forget something?" he asked, and Erin couldn't help noticing a trace of bitterness in his voice.

"No," she replied. "I...um...Wind...."

"If you're going to tell me how happy you are with your boyfriend, save it," Jake snapped, following her into the house and slamming the door.

"Uncle Jake?" Erin stood in the middle of the living room, staring at Jake with growing fear. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, so now you're concerned about my feelings?" The bitterness was unmistakable now. "'You are never going to be a third wheel,' you said," he quoted at her. "'No guy is going to change our friendship!'" He glared at her. "Were you lying then, or did you change your mind and decide that I wasn't really worth caring about after all?"

"I wasn't lying," Erin said, feeling a knot of dread in her stomach as she found herself drawn into yet another fight. "It was true then, and it's still true now!"

"Is that so?" Jake replied. "Then why did you move out without any warning? With barely even a good-bye?"

"I got carried away," Erin defended herself. "Between looking for apartments and packing my things, it was just so busy and crazy that I didn't have time."

"' _I didn't have time_ ,'" Jake mimicked. "' _I got carried away_.' ' _Can't make it to your piano recital because we're too busy, Jakey!_ ' ' _We would have come to visit you in the hospital after you had your tonsils out but we had grocery shopping to do!_ '" With each successive comment, Jake's voice got louder and angrier. By the end, he wasn't even looking at Erin anymore and she wasn't entirely sure he was still aware of her presence.

"I wasn't blowing you off," Erin protested. "I just didn't want to make a big deal about it. I'm only about a quarter mile away." Then she corrected herself, "I mean, I _was_ only about a quarter mile away."

That got Jake's attention in an instant. "Was?" he asked, sounding almost hopeful. "Do you mean...?"

She nodded glumly. "I'm going to have to move back in after all, if that's okay."

"Okay?" Jake whooped and pounced on his niece for a bear hug, forgetting his anger on the spot. "I couldn't be happier! Here, let me help you unpack." He looked around. "Hey, where are your things?"

Erin groaned. "I left them behind. I guess I'll have to go back and get them."

"No, no, no, no," Jake said, shaking his head quickly. "We'll just buy you new stuff!"

Laughing in spite of her rough day, Erin said, "Uncle Jake, that's silly. I'll just go over later tonight and collect my things. No problem."

"But...." Jake suddenly looked like a child about to be scolded. "If you go back then you might change your mind."

"You wouldn't say that if you'd heard the fight we just had," Erin informed him. "In fact, I'm a little surprised you didn't hear it." She cocked her head at him. "Hey, why are you so eager to keep me here, anyway?"

Jake looked sheepish. "It's just that, well, with Quinn always out on dates and Helen always working and Daria heading off to college soon...it was nice to have someone to talk to."

Erin noticed how Jake couldn't even look her in the eye and realized there was more to this than simply missing her. She thought about the bits and pieces she'd picked up about his childhood and finally put it together. "You felt like I was abandoning you," she said plainly.

"What? No! I didn't...." Jake sighed and finally looked at her. "Yeah. That's about it."

At that moment Erin realized that the similarities between Jake and Wind were almost uncanny. Both had a tendency to wildly overreact to the smallest provocation, both were obsessed with their past traumas...and both seemed to care about her more than anyone else. Or at least Jake did; Wind she wasn't sure about anymore.

Erin reached for Jake and wrapped him in a gentle hug. "It's okay," she murmured. "I will never, ever, hurt you if I can possibly help it."

Jake's back tensed for a moment at her words, but then he relaxed with a happy sigh. He returned the hug with shaking arms. "Thank you," he said, so quietly that she almost didn't hear him.

"What's going on?" Erin and Jake pulled apart and turned to see Daria at the bottom of the stairs. "Did someone die? Was it Quinn?" Erin glanced at Jake and saw his embarrassment. "He was comforting me," she lied quickly. "Wind and I broke up."

"Guess I'll have to see who had today in the pool," Daria said.

"Had what in the pool?" Quinn asked, coming into the room.

"Erin and Wind's inevitable break-up," Daria said.

"Oh, _no_!" Quinn cried, putting her hands to her face in dismay.

"It's okay," Erin reassured her. "I'm sure we're much better off--"

"Not that." Quinn waved off Erin's shattered relationship dismissively. "I meant that if you're moving back in then I'll have to move my closet overflow out of the guest room."

"Always the compassionate soul," Daria remarked on her way upstairs to her room.

"Anyway," Erin said, looking at Jake and Quinn. "I hope it's okay if I come back."

"Of course," Quinn said. "Honestly, I need to weed my collection anyway. Gotta make room for next season's fashions, and last time I looked in the back of my closet I saw a _teal_ sweater!" She laughed. "Can you imagine? Teal?"

Erin and Jake looked at each other and shrugged. "You know it's fine with me," Jake told her, ignoring Quinn's continued monologue on outdated styles.

"Yes, but Aunt Helen...." Erin trailed off, reluctant to say anything negative about her aunt.

"Don't worry about her," Jake said, patting her shoulder. "She acts pretty tough, but in reality she's got a soft spot for pitiful strays."

Erin felt doubtful. "How do you know?"

Jake just winked at her, and Erin chuckled. "Oh. Yeah, I guess I can see that." They heard the sound of a car door outside, signaling Helen's arrival.

"Erin, why don't you help Quinn move her clothes out of the guest--out of your room, okay? I'll talk to Helen about this."

Erin and Quinn escaped quickly upstairs, leaving them to discuss Erin out of her hearing. After carrying armloads of clothing from one room to another while listening to Quinn's misguided attempts to cheer her up by talking about all the guys she'd dumped in the past, Erin felt like she needed someone else to talk to. She made her way to Daria's room and knocked.

"Come in, Erin." Daria's voice sounded resigned.

Erin pushed the door open and peeked inside. "How did you know?"

Daria was sitting on the end of her bed, glaring at the floor. "Ninety percent of the time, a knock on my door means it's you coming to pry into my personal problems."

"I actually--"

"Fine, I'll cut to the chase: Tom got into Bromwell and I didn't."

"Bromwell?" Erin asked, forgetting her own problems for the moment. "Some of my friends went there after prep school. I've heard it's great, but of course practically no one gets in unless they're a legacy or something."

Daria's glare pivoted to focus on Erin. "Not. Helping."

"You know, I never said I came in here to help _you_ ," Erin snapped.

Daria looked startled by her tone. "What?"

"It might surprise you to know that I actually came to you for help," Erin said. "I don't know if you remember, but I believe I mentioned that Wind and I broke up and I'm not exactly thrilled about it."

"Oh." Guilt and embarrassment colored Daria's face pink. "I'm sorry." She looked down. "I can't offer you much advice, though. I'm pretty sure Tom and I are headed for our own breakup."

"You don't know that will happen," Erin pointed out.

"Don't I?" Daria replied sadly. "You and Wind couldn't make it work, and you were living in the same apartment." She winced. "Dammit, I don't think I could be any nastier to you if I tried."

"It's okay--you have a point, honestly. I mean, that's _why_ we couldn't make it work." Erin gasped as the words left her mouth. "Oh my God! That's why we couldn't make it work!" She hopped in place excitedly, then lunged forward to grab Daria in an enormous hug. "Thank you so much!"

As Erin scampered out of the room, Daria blinked in confusion. "You're...welcome?"

Taking the stairs down two or even three at a time, Erin headed straight for the front door. She was just about to open it when a voice stopped her.

"Erin?" Helen's mouth was tight with disapproval, but her eyes were wide with curiosity. Erin saw Jake and realized that he'd probably just given her the news about moving back in with them. "Oh. Hi, Aunt Helen."

"Jake tells me you're not moving out after all?" Phrased like a question, Erin could see plainly that it was more of an accusation.

"Not sure yet." She grinned at them both and wiggled her fingers. "Be back soon!" And then she was out the door.

  
  


For the second time that day, Erin found herself standing in front of a door and trying to decide if she should knock. She'd forgotten to take her keys with her when she left the apartment earlier that day, but she also hadn't bothered to lock the door. Wind, being both overly trusting and absent-minded, probably hadn't bothered to check, so it was a good bet that she could just walk right in if she wanted to.

Full of confidence and excitement on the way over, Erin was now frozen by self-doubt. _What if Wind doesn't want to see me? What if I'm wrong and coming back is just another big mistake?_ She took a deep breath and made her decision. Grabbing the doorknob, she turned it and opened, stepping into the apartment without another thought.

She expected Wind to be surprised, and perhaps either happy or angry. Maybe even both. What she did not expect to see was a stranger standing next to him.

"Who's this?" she said, at the exact same time as the strange woman standing next to Wind.

Wind was standing frozen and wide-eyed, looking from one woman to the other and back again. Finally, in a strained voice, he said, "Um...Erin, this is Katie. Katie, this is Erin."

"Wait--Katie? As in your ex-wife Katie?"

"What do you mean, _ex_ -wife?" Katie demanded, crossing her arms and glaring at Wind.

Wind looked like he wanted to run away. "I couldn't reach you to discuss the paperwork and stuff," he mumbled.

"That's a load of crap," Katie snapped at him. " _I'm_ not the one who vanished without a trace. _I_ stayed at the houseboat waiting for you to come back, so don't tell me you didn't know where I was! I had to call your parents' house about fifty times before I could even get anyone on the phone, and then I had to spend like three hours talking to your idiot brother until he understood who I was and what I wanted. It didn't help that he kept falling asleep while I was talking to him." She jabbed her finger at Wind. "And after that, I find out that you've already taken up with some random floozy?"

"Hey--" Erin started to say, but Wind silenced her with a pleading glance.

"It's complicated, okay?" His voice started out angry but ended in a whine. "You didn't want to talk to me, anyway!"

"Should I go or...?" Erin said, feeling awkward. Then she shook herself slightly. "Wait a minute. I live here!"

"You do?" both Wind and Katie replied, staring at her.

"Or at least I did," she amended. "That was what I wanted to talk to Wind about." She looked pointedly at Katie. "In private."

"Anything you want to say to _my husband_ you can say in front of me," Katie said defiantly.

The words hit Erin in the stomach and she even gasped slightly as though Katie had actually punched her. She'd rather be punched; it would have hurt less. The full reality finally set in and that nagging feeling that had taken up residence in the back of her mind since their relationship began finally came into focus: Wind had never divorced his wife. He'd never even broken things off. In fact, from the way Katie described it, he hadn't even spoken to her since the day he left for Lawndale.

_I'm...what? A homewrecker? Wind's mistress?_ She frowned. _No. This is Wind's fault_. "How dare you?" she said out loud, glaring not at Katie but at Wind. "You kept talking about how much you wanted to be with me, to move in together, to make a commitment, but how well did you handle your _last_ commitment? Admit it," she continued, her anger growing the more she said to him. "I was never anything but a fling!"

"Er...." Wind's eyes flicked briefly from Erin's to Katie's before coming back to Erin. That glance, plus his hesitation to reply, was answer enough. Erin turned around and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

She'd made it three steps before remembering that she'd left her things behind--again--but she'd be damned if she'd go back for them now. She kept walking, still furious. Partway to her destination, though, she stopped. _I just can't go back to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jake's house_ , she realized. _I don't have a home._

The coffee shop where she'd met Wind was across the street. She trudged inside, got a cup of tea, and flopped despondently into the nearest empty seat. The memory of meeting Wind stung, but she was grateful for it. It kept her angry, and at that moment anger was the only thing keeping her from dissolving into a flood of tears.

_What do I do now?_ she asked herself. She stared into her tea, willing the answer to appear out of the steaming liquid. An answer did come, but she didn't like it. _I could go back to Mom_ , she thought sadly. _And...Grandma_. She shuddered at the thought, but no other options presented themselves.

Closing her eyes, Erin took a long sip of her tea and tried to calm her nerves. It didn't work. She let out a tired sigh and opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was a small placard on the serving counter that she hadn't noticed when she'd come in: NOW HIRING.

Erin bit her lip, considering. She glanced at the employees behind the counter. They seemed happy, or at least were doing a good job of appearing to be happy. They were talking and joking with each other as they worked, and chatted with the customers in a friendly way as they served them their coffee.

She weighed her options. She could go back to Wind and fight for a relationship that she wasn't even sure she wanted anymore. _No_. She could continue freeloading off of the Morgendorffers. _No_. She could swallow her pride and crawl back to her mother and let her run her life for her again. _Never_.

It was the only option. She finished her tea as quickly as she could without burning her mouth, then stood up and approached the counter to ask for an application.

"The manager's actually doing open interviews today," the barista told her. "If you fill this out now, you could probably talk to him right after." She shrugged. "No one else has applied so far."

Half an hour later, Erin was standing in front of the manager, dazed, as he shook her hand and welcomed her to the team. He was telling her a lot of things about schedules and dress codes and benefit options but all Erin could think about was that for the first time in her life she had made a decision and followed through on it without any input from anyone else.

"Do you have any questions?" the manager asked her.

Erin tapped her chin. "Er, yes, actually." She smiled sheepishly at her new boss. "How do you make coffee?"

  
  


It was late in the evening when Erin arrived at the Morgendorffer house. "Erin!" Jake cried, leaping up from his place on the couch. "Where have you been? I've been worried!"

Erin gave him a short but warm hug. "Sorry, Uncle Jake," she said, barely able to hold in her excitement. "I got a job!"

Jake looked surprised. "It's, uh, been a busy day for you, huh?" he finally said. He shifted nervously, clearly preparing himself to say something. "So...are you going to live here or with Wind?" he finally asked, then visibly braced himself for the answer.

"Nope," Erin said simply, then grinned at Jake's confusion. "Now that I'll be earning a paycheck I'm going to get my own place." She glanced at the clock. "First thing tomorrow. Is it okay if I spend one last night here?"

"Of course it is!" he exclaimed. "We can make popcorn and watch movies and..." Jake trailed off as Erin swayed slightly and yawned. "...or maybe you should just go to bed now," he suggested.

"That would be great." Erin smiled gratefully at him, then looked doubtfully at the stairs. "You know, I think I'll just crash here on the couch." She kicked off her shoes and lay down without waiting for Jake's reply.

"Are you sure you'll be comfortable there?" Jake asked. His only answer was a quiet snore from Erin. He chuckled and went to the linen closet for a blanket. "Good night," he said quietly, spreading the blanket over his sleeping niece before heading upstairs to bed.

  
  


Erin woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes. "Mmmm," she said, stretching and sitting up. She felt a moment of disorientation at finding herself on the couch, but in an instant the events of the previous day rushed into her memory and she sighed. "Never mind," she told herself. "It's a new day, and it will be better than yesterday if I have anything to say about it."

She padded lightly into the kitchen to find Jake at the stove, flipping pancakes. To her surprise, they actually looked edible. "Good morning!" Jake greeted her cheerfully. "Ready for some breakfast?"

The previous day's cup of tea had been the most recent thing she'd consumed, and her stomach suddenly reminded her of that with full force. "Very," she replied, but peered suspiciously at the stack of pancakes. "Anything...unusual...in these?" she asked him. "Jalapenos or any other surprise ingredients?"

Jake shook his head. "Nope. Followed the recipe exactly. It's my mother's, and she'd kill me if I changed it even a little." He turned another pancake on the griddle. "I had to go out to Payday and pick up a vat of lard, but it'll be worth it." He scooped up a stack of pancakes and plopped them onto a plate. "Here you go!"

Erin took the plate gratefully and sat down to eat. She thought as she chewed that if Jake could just tone down his experimenting then he might actually be a good cook. She was both too hungry and too reluctant to ruin Jake's mood to say anything, though, and settled for taking another hefty bite of pancake instead.

"So what's on your to-do list today?" Jake asked, setting a bottle of syrup on the table in front of her. Quinn entered, took one look at the lard on the counter, and made a quick exit.

"Apartment hunting," Erin replied after swallowing and wiping her mouth. "Just as soon as I'm done with breakfast."

"Aw, there's no hurry," Jake said, trying to sound casual but unable to hide the note of whining in his voice. "You know you can stay here as long as you want!"

"Yes, and I appreciate it a lot," Erin said, "but I want--no, I _need_ \--to start standing on my own two feet." Under her breath she added, "For once."

"Yeah, I know how _that_ is," Jake said, his gaze becoming slightly unfocused. " _I_ ask to go to tennis camp and _they_ send me to military school. _I_ ask for a G.I. Joe for my birthday and _they_ give me a pair of socks. _I_ ask for--"

"Right," Erin said, cutting him off before he could get any angrier. "Then you understand that I have to do this, for myself more than for anyone else."

Jake opened his mouth to argue. Then he sighed and nodded. "You're right," he said simply. "It's just that I missed you."

Erin held back a laugh. "Uncle Jake, I moved out for less than a full day."

"Felt like longer," Jake mumbled, looking so childlike that Erin couldn't resist laughing this time. Fortunately he laughed along with her. "So you breaking up with...you-know-who...actually worked out for the best, huh?"

Erin's laugh faded instantly. "Um, yeah. I guess." She gave Jake a wavering smile. "It's okay; you can say his name. Wind." As soon as she'd said the name out loud, though, her eyes filled with tears. She stood up abruptly from the table and fell against Jake, sobbing.

Jake winced and held his niece, feeling awkward. "Uh, there, there?" he tried. "It's going to be okay?"

Taking a few deep breaths and choking out one last shuddering sob, Erin stepped back and nodded. "Yeah. It is." She couldn't meet Jake's gaze as she said it. "Um, I'm going to go get cleaned up so I can go out apartment hunting, okay?"

Jake nodded and began clearing away breakfast dishes. "Want me to come along?"

"No, thanks." Erin turning to go. "I want to do this on my own."

"Sure," Jake said, pretending not to hear her loud sniffles as she left the kitchen. As he began running water to wash the dishes, he had a thought. He immediately pushed it away with a frown, but the thought kept coming back.

"I won't do it!" he yelled at a mixing bowl as he scrubbed it mercilessly. "You can't make me!"

"Who are you talking to?" Helen asked, poking her head into the kitchen.

"Uh, no one," Jake said, then tried to change the subject. "Hey, I need to go run some errands later. Want me to pick anything up for you?"

Helen shook her head. "We're well-stocked on lard already," she said pointedly.

"Aw, honey," Jake said with a groan, "I got the smallest size they had!"

  
  


Half an hour later the dishes were done, Helen was at the office, Daria and Quinn were at school, and Erin was out looking for a new apartment. Jake decided to take the morning off from work--a perk of being self-employed--and do some shopping. He was about to go into Deuce Hardware to pick up some lightbulbs when a familiar face caught his eye. Wind was walking his way, but didn't notice him right away because his attention was focused on a young woman walking next to him and speaking loudly.

"...and yet you still haven't even started packing your things to come back to the houseboat. I'm not going to do it for you, you know. And we need to get back soon, because I'm pretty sure there's a leak somewhere and I need to you fix it."

"Uh huh," Wind replied dully. He was staring at the ground as he walked, but looked up just in time to avoid running directly into Jake. He stopped short, staring at him nervously. "Hello, Jake," he said quietly.

"That's 'Mr. Morgendorffer' to you," Jake replied with a glare.

"You know this guy?" the woman asked. "Judging from how pissed off he is, _he_ clearly knows _you_."

"Yes, we've met. This is Ja--I mean, Mr. Morgendorffer. He's, uh...the father of one of my sister's friends. Mr. Morgendorffer, this is my wife Katie."

"Wife?!" Jake cried. Suddenly Erin's misery took on an extra dimension.

"For now, unless he shapes up fast," Katie muttered, then seemed to realize that she'd spoken out loud. "Ha ha! Just kidding. Love you, sweetie." She put on a fake smile and gave Wind a stiff hug. "Come on, let's go," she continued in a harsher tone, grabbing his arm and dragging him along behind her.

Wind turned back to look at Jake. "If you see your niece, tell her hi." He glanced at Katie and added, "And that I'm sorry. Really sorry." He turned back and hunched his shoulders against Katie's continued verbal onslaught.

Jake didn't reply or move, only stared after him until he was out of sight. His initial reaction had been to tell Wind what he could do with his apology, but something in the man's face had stopped him. It was the pure agony of someone trapped in a horrible situation they couldn't escape from, and Jake recognized it immediately because he'd seen it in the mirror throughout his childhood.

He still couldn't forgive Wind for breaking Erin's heart, but he was feeling sympathy for him in spite of his anger. _Okay, fine_ , he decided. _You win. I'll do it._ He turned around and left without the light bulbs, thinking hard the whole way home.

  
  


"Uncle Jake!" Erin pounced on Jake the moment he walked in the door, bouncing excitedly as she grabbed both his hands and squealed. "I found the perfect apartment!"

"That's great!" Jake said, feigning as much happiness as he could. "When are you moving in?"

"I'm not," Erin laughed. "It was way too expensive, so I had to pass on it. Then, later on, I found a really horrid apartment that's in my budget and I'm moving in later today!"

"Oh. Congratulations?" Jake said, confused.

"Thanks!" Erin looked around and shrugged. "At least I don't have much to pack. What little I have is still at...the other apartment." Her good mood instantly faded, and Jake remembered Wind's request to pass along his apology. He started to tell her, but couldn't get the words to come out. Somehow, it didn't seem like the right time. "It's okay," she muttered, apparently to herself. "I'll just buy new stuff. Eventually."

"You know what?" Jake asked his niece, eager to see her smile again. "I'm going to throw you a great big housewarming party this weekend! What do you say to that?"

"Isn't that usually the responsibility of the person with the new home?" Erin asked, drawing on years of etiquette drilling from her grandmother.

"Who cares?" Jake said, shrugging it off. "You've got enough to worry about." Seeing the light in her eyes dim again at the reminder he quickly added, "I mean, with your new job and moving to a new place and all that."

"Right," Erin said, nodding in agreement but still looking sad. Then she brightened. "A party sounds great, Uncle Jake. Thank you so much! Can I help with anything?"

Jake shook his head. "Nope, I'm going to take care of everything." Giving his niece a hug, he repeated, " _Everything_."

  
  


When Daria and Quinn got home from school that day, Jake was waiting for them. Erin was frantically cleaning her new apartment and Helen was still at the office, so the three of them had the house to themselves. "We've got a mission," he informed Daria and Quinn.

The girls glanced uneasily at each other. "Dad, you didn't happen across any glitterberries recently, did you?" Daria asked.

"I'm serious," Jake insisted. "We're throwing a housewarming party for Erin, and--"

"Oooh! Enough said, Daddy," Quinn interrupted. "I'm, like, an expert on parties. Leave everything to me!"

"Great," Daria said, rolling her eyes. "Rowdy high schoolers and Boyz 'R' Guyz at full volume. Erin's going to love it."

"No one said you had to come," Quinn pouted.

"Enough," Jake cut in. "I'm in charge of this one, because I have a secret plan that you two are going to help me with."

"This sounds like it'll end well," Daria muttered with a sigh.

"It definitely will," Jake agreed, missing the sarcasm entirely. "Because we're going to work together."

"We will?" Daria and Quinn said together, glancing uneasily at each other.

"Yes." Jake said the word forcefully, and the girls looked at him in surprise. "Listen," he said in a voice that was gentler but still determined, "who helped you and your friends with your...shopping problem awhile back?"

"Erin," Quinn admitted, remembering the dress that had almost torn the Fashion Club apart.

"And who helped you when you got upset over the refrigerator box and went to the Cove?" Jake continued.

"Erin," Daria said quietly, thinking about all the other times Erin had helped her.

"And who drove me to the doctor's office when I had a deadly parasite that would have killed me in hours without her intervention?"

"I don't think that's quite--"

" _Who did it?_ "

"Erin," Daria and Quinn replied quickly.

"So we're finally going to help her in return," Jake said decisively. He pointed at Quinn. "You need to keep Erin busy and distracted until Saturday, so she doesn't suspect anything."

"Gold card?" Quinn asked hopefully.

"If you must," Jake replied, resigned. Then he pointed at Daria. "You need to call Jane ASAP."

  
  


Between her new job, her new apartment, and Quinn's never-ending pleas to go shopping with her, Erin was almost too busy to notice when the weekend arrived. She'd almost forgotten about Jake's offer to throw the party, and by Saturday morning she was tempted to ask him to cancel it. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and the idea of spending the entire day in bed was hard to resist.

However, Jake knocked on her door practically as soon as the sun rose, excited and eager to get started. Erin didn't have the heart to tell him no, so she let him in and braced herself for a busy day.

Fortunately, Jake decided to have the party catered--hot dogs, at Erin's insistence--so the guests would be safe from food poisoning. It was just as well, anyway. Erin's tiny kitchen was barely large enough to cook a can of soup, let alone food for an entire party. Jake began flitting around the apartment with armfuls of decorations. Erin, meanwhile, poured herself a bowl of cereal and tried to stay out of his way.

Jake was putting the finishing touches on the streamers when a knock sounded on the door. Erin opened it to find Daria and Quinn. "Welcome to the party!" she told them. "You're the first ones here." Thinking about how few friends she'd made since moving to Lawndale, she added, "And possibly the only ones."

"Nope!" Quinn cheerfully contradicted her. "Wait and see!" Daria only grunted something, looking nervously over her shoulder as they came in.

"Oh, is Aunt Helen coming?" Erin asked.

"She had to go into the office today," Jake explained, trying to untangle a bunch of balloon strings. "There was some kind of disaster involving Pizza Forest and a lawsuit."

"Animal cruelty charges," Daria said with a smirk.

Erin had barely shut the door when she heard another knock. She opened it again to find the Fashion Club waiting. "Happy housewarming!" Stacy said, bouncing in excitedly. "Ooooh, your apartment is so, um, cute?"

"It's definitely cozy," Sandi agreed, trying to be tactful.

"Smaaaaaall," Tiffany bluntly said.

This time Erin didn't even get the door shut before the next guest arrived: Tom Sloane. He handed her a wrapped gift in the obvious shape of a vase. "Hope I don't ruin the surprise, but it's a flower vase," he told her with a smile.

"Oh, good, more clutter to fill up her tiny home," Daria muttered. Tom shot her an angry look but said nothing.

"This is so nice," Erin said, shutting the door and smiling at everyone. "I guess I have more friends than I realized."

"And not everyone is here yet!" Jake said, almost exploding with his suppressed excitement.

"Oh? Who--" Erin was silenced by yet another knock on the door. She opened it to find Jane and Wind, too engrossed in conversation with each other to notice her right away.

"--just take a minute, and then we can go back to that whiny horror of a hopefully soon-to-be-ex-wife of yours for more haranguing, okay?" Jane was telling him.

"But you haven't even told me who your friend is or what they need help with--oh." Wind finally saw Erin. If Jane hadn't reached out to grab his arm at that moment, he probably would have run away. Instead, he shuffled his feet awkwardly and said "Hi," to the floor.

Erin stared at them for a moment, and for just a moment began to shut the door in their faces. Jake lunged forward and grabbed it from her, waving Jane and Wind inside with a wide grin. "Welcome, welcome!" he repeated over and over again.

Erin pulled Jake aside. "What is _he_ doing here?" she hissed at him, alternating rapidly between rage and tears.

Jake put both hands out in front himself defensively. "I thought if I got him to come here, you could talk things out and...I don't know," he finally said helplessly. "I didn't really think past this part." He looked pleadingly at Erin and then at Wind. "Just talk to each other," he urged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"You mean aside from getting into a gigantic argument and breaking down in tears in front of a whole bunch of people?" Erin asked, flinging one arm out to gesture at the guests, who were now trying desperately to blend into the background or edge quietly toward the exit.

"Okay," Jake said soothingly. "Maybe we'll give you some privacy while you guys talk in private."

"Really?" Erin cried. "Where? My apartment is the size of a portable toilet. Where the hell could we go in here that's private?!"

"Calm down," Tom said soothingly. "He's just trying to help, albeit in the most clueless possible way."

"Hey, leave him alone!" Daria snapped, as hurt by the casual insult to her father as she was aggravated by his condescending tone. "This doesn't concern you, anyway."

"It doesn't concern any of you!" Erin shouted.

"Yeah, no kidding," Sandi muttered as she ducked out of the apartment, dragging Tiffany and Stacy along with her.

"So much for the party," Quinn said sadly, watching them go.

"The party ended the moment _they_ showed up," Erin spat, glaring at Wind and Jane.

"Don't blame me," Jane said, eyes wide. "They just asked me to bring him along, and I didn't argue."

"Maybe you should have," Daria muttered.

"What?" Jane whirled to look at Daria. "This wasn't my idea, you know!"

"Was it your idea to have your brother string Erin along while he was still married to Katie?"

"That's a little unfair," Tom pointed out, trying to calm everyone down. He had the opposite effect.

"You're hardly one to talk," Jane said, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You really want to defend someone for going behind their significant other's back?"

"I'm standing right here, you know," Wind said quietly, but no one paid any attention to him.

"I thought we'd gotten past that!" Tom exclaimed.

" _You_ got past it," Daria told him. "Never mind how anyone else feels, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You haven't even asked me about Bromwell yet."

"You got in, right?"

"No. I'm going to Raft. And after the way you're acting I've never been happier about it."

"Wait, why is everyone ganging up on me?" Tom asked. "I thought everyone was mad at Wind."

" _I'm_ mad at Wind," Erin interrupted. "Everyone else is just here to gawk at us, apparently."

"Fine, then we'll leave," Jane said abruptly, tugging on her brother's arm. "Then you can all go back to blaming him for everything!"

"Are you actually taking his side?" Daria asked incredulously.

"He is my brother, you know!" Jane shot back angrily. "I've met your cousin exactly once, so I have no idea why you had to drag me into it!"

"Because we're friends, my cousin is unhappy, and I thought you'd want to help!"

"Since when does family loyalty mean so much to you?"

"Since when does it mean anything to _you_?"

" _ENOUGH_!" Wind screamed. Everyone went quiet, aside from a tiny "Eep!" from Jake. He pointed at all of the guests. "Every one of you, out. Right now." They all complied without hesitating, some of them letting out relieved sighs as the door closed behind them.

Now it was just Wind and Erin, staring at each other in wary silence. "Well?" Erin asked him, crossing her arms. "Did you just come here to ruin my housewarming party?"

"I didn't even know you were living here when Jane brought me," Wind whined. "If I had known, I--"

"--wouldn't have come, I know," Erin finished bitterly.

"No," Wind said, all of the anger leaving him. "I would have come here much sooner."

"What?" Erin asked, surprised out of her own anger.

Wind sighed. "I've been miserable without you. I made a huge mistake with the whole Katie thing. I should have made a full break with her when we started dating, but...I don't know. I was afraid. I'm really not good at standing up for myself, and I think I was scared if I got in touch with her she'd just bully me into coming back to her."

"Which she did anyway," Erin pointed out, keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

"True." Wind twisted his hands together, but kept eye contact with her. "I've already made my decision. I don't want Katie. I don't want anyone except you."

"Until the next one comes along?" Erin asked icily.

Wind shook his head. "All my past relationships...I was desperately looking for love, but it wasn't until I met you that I even understood what that meant. I've never felt like this with anybody else before, and I can't imagine feeling like this about anybody else, ever." He shuddered slightly. "I'm not sure I could survive it, honestly."

"Too bad," Erin wanted to say. But when she opened her mouth, what came out was, "Me too." The words surprised her as much as they did Wind, especially because she hadn't realized that they were true until that moment. The smile growing on Wind's face warmed her heart, but she still held a hand out to stop him from doing or saying anything. "But."

"But?" Wind's face looked worried but still hopeful.

"But we have way too many problems. We each have tons of baggage, and put together it's even worse. Don't you see that?"

Wind shrugged. "So we'll have to work at it."

Erin suppressed a shudder. Without realizing it, Wind had hit her weak point. Working in any capacity was not her strong suit, and she'd been forced to admit it to herself over the past few months. Her job at the coffee shop was an uphill climb, and relationships were even more of a struggle. "We've been working at it," she pointed out. "And it was still a total disaster. It always will be, no matter how hard we try."

The hurt and disappointment on Wind's face almost moved Erin to tears, but she couldn't give in. She couldn't go back to the fighting and clinginess and pain of their relationship as it was before they broke up. If there was a solution, she couldn't find it.

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a loud commotion outside. People were shouting, feet were stomping around, and finally someone banged loudly on the door. "Who could that be?" Erin asked. She opened it and Katie charged in, pushing past her with fury in her eyes.

"I tried to stop her," Jane said from the hallway. The other former party guests, who had also decided to remain in the hallway, nodded.

"So this is Jane's 'friend' that you needed to help?" she demanded, glaring at Wind and pointing an accusing finger at Erin. Erin sighed and shut the door, cutting off the disappointed groans from the morbidly curious onlookers outside.

Erin was furious, not only at Katie's insulting tone but at her intrusion into her home. "How dare you--" she began, but Wind stepped in.

"Let me handle this," he told Erin calmly, and Erin fought down an urge to slap him as hard as she could. _He won't even let me defend myself against her?!_ Wind turned to Katie. "How dare you push your way into Erin's home and insult her like this?" he demanded, voice barely below a shout.

Katie was shocked speechless, but only for a few moments. "What do you mean?" she cried. "I caught you red-handed with this, this--"

"This wonderful, intelligent, kind woman," he finished for her. "And I won't let you stay a moment longer. Get out." He opened the door for her.

"If I get out," Katie said, drawing herself up haughtily, "then I'm _gone_. It's over between us."

"Best news I've heard all day," Wind said, pointing to the exit.

As Katie stalked out of the apartment, the audience broke out into cheers and applause. Wind shook his head, as he shut the door. As soon as they were out of sight of everyone, he sagged against it like he couldn't even support his own weight.

Erin hurried to his side and helped him stagger to the nearest chair. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sweating, my heart is racing, and I think I'm going to throw up," Wind said. "I'm great."

Understanding, Erin smiled at him. "You stood up to her."

"I stood up for you."

Erin hugged him in thanks. "And even more importantly, you stood up for yourself."

"I did, didn't I?" Wind was panting like he had just run a mile, but he gave her a shaky smile. "Feels pretty good, actually."

"I'll bet it does," Erin said, feeling almost jealous of Wind's sudden self-confidence. She looked at the exhilarated but pale and shaky man in front of her and was just about to ask him if he needed a doctor when the phone rang.

Giving Wind one final squeeze on the shoulder, she left to answer the ancient rotary phone above the kitchen counter. "Hello?"

"Erin! I'm so glad you're home!"

"Mom?" Erin leaned against the counter, feeling dizzy and confused. "How did you get my phone number?" She frowned, thinking. " _I_ don't even know the phone number yet!"

"Never mind that," Rita said breezily. "Mother is here and we need to talk to you right now."

"It's really not a good time," Erin said, eying Wind. He seemed to be breathing more easily, and the color was coming back into his face, but even from a distance she could see he was still shaking.

"Here, I'll put your grandmother on," Rita went on as though Erin hadn't said anything.

Erin gripped the edge of the counter and closed her eyes, fighting the urge to just hang up. Manners and a lifetime of obedience kept the phone at her ear.

"Hello? Erin?" The elderly woman's voice was frail but authoritative, and Erin knew that the frailness was usually feigned, a ploy for sympathy. "I'd like you to come home now."

"Actually, I'm settling down here in Lawndale," Erin explained. "I've got a new job and I just moved into my own apartment, so--"

"Pshaw, never mind that," her grandmother cheerfully interrupted. "We've missed you, and it's time to bring an end to this little diversion and get back to reality."

Anger flared deep in Erin's gut at her words. _"Little diversion"? "Reality"?_ Erin saw through the line about missing her in an instant. _They don't miss_ me _, they miss having me to mediate in their petty arguments. They miss the old-fashioned respectability of having me taking care of them like a dutiful young woman. They miss having someone compliant they can order around and play with like a doll._ "I'm very happy here," she insisted. She wasn't sure that was entirely true, but she was definitely happier than she'd be with them.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." Her grandmother laughed. "Happy working for a living? Happy in a tiny little suburb no one's ever even heard of? Happy with the shame of a divorce hanging over your head?"

Something about that last comment struck Erin as odd, rather than simply insulting. She knew that tone. It was the same tone her grandmother always used when she was about to introduce Rita to yet another "suitable" man. "Wait a minute," she said quietly. "You have someone you want me to meet, don't you?"

"You'll like him," her grandmother wheedled. "He comes from a very respectable family and he must be worth at least--"

"I don't care how much money he has," Erin cried, surprising herself with her own vehemence. "For your information, I already met someone and I love him!"

Wind's face could have illuminated an entire city. He came over to her and took her hand, squeezing it gently. She smiled briefly back at him before turning her attention back to the phone call.

"Nonsense," her grandmother was saying. "I know it's typical for young people to have one of those rebound relationships, but by now I'm sure it has run its course."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Erin said, her voice low and calm even though she was seconds away from screaming her head off.

"I think I have a little more experience than you do," her grandmother replied smugly.

"Oh really?" Erin said, acid flowing into her voice. "You married the man your parents picked out for you, put up with him long enough to squeeze out three daughters, and then refused to even stay in the same room with him unless you had to keep up appearances in public."

"Why, Erin!" Her grandmother sounded flabbergasted.

But Erin wasn't finished yet. "We all could see how much you and Grandfather hated each other," she went on. "You like to make those passive-aggressive insults about Mom's divorce, but the reality is that she was smart enough not to stay chained to a man she was miserable with!"

All Erin could hear was little squeaks and gasps, as though her grandmother was trying to speak and failing. After a moment her mother's voice came over the line. "Erin, what on Earth is going on? What did you say to her?"

"Only the truth, Mother."

Rita could be heard saying soothing things in the background. At last she came back to the phone. "Look, are you coming home or not?"

"I'm not." Saying the words seemed to lift an enormous weight from Erin's entire body.

There was a long pause. Finally Rita said, "Well, I can't force you to go, but once you've had some time to think about your situation you'll change your mind. In the meantime, don't expect anything from us! No money, no sympathy, nothing!"

"Nothing is all I've ever wanted from either of you," Erin told her, and hung up the phone.

"Bravo!" Wind applauded wildly, then swept her up in a hug. "That was the best thing I've seen since...since...."

"Since you told off Katie," Erin finished, squeezing him back.

"We've both had an exciting day, haven't we?" Wind asked with a chuckle.

"Too exciting," Erin agreed wearily.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Wind said, and abruptly dropped down onto one knee. "Erin, will you marry me?"

Erin gasped. She stared at Wind, unable to speak. He took her hand and pressed it against his chest, over his heart. She smiled warmly at her. She smiled back.

"No."

Wind rose immediately to his feet. "What?" he exclaimed. "Why? What did I do now? I thought--"

Erin placed her hand over his mouth. "Shhh," she told him gently. "You're fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine. Okay?"

Wind nodded his head once, still staring wide-eyed at her.

Erin went on. "I'm ready to work on our relationship. I want to make this work. But we have to _slow down_." She drew out the last two words for emphasis.

After thinking her words over, Wind nodded again, more eagerly this time. "You've got a point," he admitted. "So what do we do?"

Erin considered their options. "How about dinner tonight?" she suggested. "We'll go out on a date and get to know each other. One thing at a time."

Wind smiled. "That sounds nice."

They both jumped at the loud knock on the door. Feeling nervous about what might be on the other side this time, Erin went over and opened it. "Can I come in?" Jake asked, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I _really_ have to pee."

As Jake shoved past them and made a beeline for the bathroom, Wind and Erin peered out into the hallway. Daria, Tom, Jane, and Quinn were still there. "Why haven't you guys gone home?" Erin asked them.

Quinn tossed her hair. "Because _party_. Duh." She glanced at the others. "Plus they've been super entertaining, talking about their little problems and stuff. It's like one of those trashy talk shows...which I never watch, of course."

Erin looked at the other three in surprise. "You worked everything out?"

Three heads shook back and forth. "Still a work in progress," Jane explained. "But there's a greater than zero chance that we won't kill each other now."

Tom looked at Wind, standing behind Erin, and back at her again. "Speaking of working things out...?"

"Also a work in progress," Erin told him with a small smile. "But we're getting there."

"Great!" Quinn said, sliding past Erin into the apartment. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got some Boyz 'R' Guyz CDs to put on."

Daria started backing away in the opposite direction, but Erin reached out and dragged her in. "Come on," she told her. "Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"I seem to recall a wise person once telling me that television counts as a place."

"Yes, yes, very wise," Jane said, following her into the apartment. "But even wiser is the person who sticks around for free food."

Wind came to stand next to Erin and asked, "Do you really think we can make this work on our own?" It was the first time Wind had expressed any real doubts about their relationship, and it made Erin happy to hear it. It meant he was learning.

"I hope so," she told him, looking at their friends. Quinn was putting on some music as Jake drifted back in from the bathroom. Daria, Jane, and Tom eyed each other warily as they ate in awkward silence. "And we won't be alone," she pointed out.

"But what if we'd rather be alone?" he murmured into her ear, sliding an arm around her waist.

Erin giggled and playfully nudged him away. "Don't worry," she murmured back. "There'll be time for that later... _Ronald_."


End file.
